Remy's Baby
by ElvenMuggle
Summary: Remy and Rogue are having a baby. Now as they sit in the hospital and wait for its arrival, everything would be perfect if it weren't for Rogue's wild mood swings, Kitty being carted off to jail, and Kurt catching...rabies. Sequel to Remy's Pursuit.
1. The Chapter With The Perverted Sandwich

**A/N: Yeah, that summary is a little crazy. **

**This is a sequel for Remy's Pursuit but you DO NOT have to read the first one to be able to know what's going on. This whole story will take place in the hospital up until the baby is born and then we're done. Ok? Ok? Ok. **

**Thanks for reading and please review :)**

**This story is dedicated to ****Ariana****, who gets more and more awesome **_**everyday**_** and inspired this story more than she knows. **

…

AH! Oh no...I'm worried and what else was I going to say? Oh yeah, gross.

This is gross. But even though it is gross, I'm excited. But also scared. My water just broke. This should be a time of happiness. But it's very gross. And it makes me panicky. This is my first, I've never had any babies before, and even though all of the baby books told me that it couldn't happen…what if the baby just FALLS OUT?

What do I do then? Well…I suppose I would catch it. Oh my…The baby is NOT going to fall out. I'm ok, the baby is ok, and Remy…Well, Remy is freaking out more than I am.

Exactly one minute ago my water broke. And exactly one minute ago, I came out of the bathroom and told Remy what happened. To my surprise, Remy is running around our tiny apartment, grabbing things we need and seemingly not hearing when I tell him that I already have a bag for the hospital packed.

Suddenly he stops running halfway to the kitchen to look over at me. He's got my suitcase in one hand, his coat in another, and a towel for me slung over his shoulder. Somehow during his frantic searching for the suitcase his hair has come to stick up in every direction. His face is flushed and his eyes are a little wild.

"Wait…" he says slowly, "are we going to need to bring bottles?"

I shake my head as I heave my big butt up from leaning on the wall and reach for the towel over his shoulder. "No, I'm breastfeeding. But I do need some pants." I indicate my soaked pants from where my water broke.

Nodding, he drops everything on the couch and runs to our bedroom.

Hm…I hope he's ok. He looks nervous, though I'm the nervous one. I'm the one who has to deliver a baby. Oh crap….for nine months I've tried to forget that part. But now it's hitting me. The baby _has_ to come out. One way or another, it's coming out and it's up to me to get it out.

But I should take a deep breath. They have epidurals now. An epidural makes it so that you don't feel anything when you have a baby. That's good. I want one of those. Or ten of them. I've been cramping all day…I think these are early contractions. Or maybe I just have gas.

Oh yeah, I should call everyone. They're going to want to know. But maybe I should wait until I get settled into the hospital. Yes…that would probably be a better idea.

But just as this thought goes through my mind, the phone rings. I waddle across the living room and pick it up just as Remy comes back in with a fresh pair of sweat pants for me.

"Hello?" I ask, a little out of breath from my short trip. Don't laugh at me! I can't help it, the baby weighs me down! It's heavy.

"Rogue, do you have something to tell us?" Kitty asks with barely controlled excitement.

Wait…no…surely they don't know. They can't.

"Um…do I?" I ask uncertainly as Remy frantically waves the pants in front of me. I take them and start slipping my soaked pants off.

"We know." Kitty says simply. "We're at the hospital."

I gape at Remy as she says this. HOW the hell do they KNOW?

"What?" I ask incredulously as I ignore Remy's waving hands telling me to hurry up.

"Yeah, somehow, Jean just knew it was going to happen today so we came ahead up here. We're in the waiting room. Hurry up." And she rudely hung up with a _click_.

Wait…what? Kitty hung up the PHONE? Jean knew it was going to happen today? Jean knew it was going to happen today and didn't TELL ME but she told everyone else? EVERYONE is up at the hospital? And—oh great I'm leaking again. Stupid water breaking.

Remy looks a little grossed out as he hands me the towel quickly.

"Come on, we have to hurry." He says frantically. "If you talk on the phone for another hour, we're going to end up having the baby right here."

I roll my eyes as I try to clean myself up. "I did not talk on the phone for an _hour_ that was about a minute."

"A minute too long," he says shortly before grabbing my suitcase. "I'm taking this to the car, I'll be right back."

Sighing, I pull my fresh pair of pants on and wait. I try to put my tennis shoes on, but it was all in vain. My stomach is too big nowadays to allow such privileges. I can't wait until I'm able to put them on again. Or until I can put on my non-maternity jeans. Or drink a beer. I turned twenty one eight months ago and I never got to drink anything. Though if I'm breastfeeding, I'm going to have to wait a lot longer to be able to have a drink.

I also can't wait until my emotions are more under control, but apparently, according to all the know-it-all doctors, my emotions will probably be a mess even after the baby is here. I just hope I don't cry over buying the wrong kind of oatmeal again…oh…I can't think about that. That was a _horrible_ experience.

But I'm not going to cry about it! Not again anyway.

But I will sit on the couch and cry over not being able to put my shoes on. I've cried over that a lot of times but it never gets less depressing.

This is how Remy finds me. He rushes over to me and gets on his knees, looking more alarmed than he did a few moments ago.

"Hey now, what's a matter?" He asks gently as he pushes my hair back behind my ears.

I sniffle sadly as I wipe my cheek with the back of my hand. "My shoes…" I say sadly, indicating the evil shoes lying by my feet, looking so innocent when they really are EVIL. Who knows why I bought evil shoes. I didn't know they were evil when I bought them. But if I knew that the factory they were made in was stationed in hell, I never would have bothered.

Remy smiles softly and takes my feet in his hands. "Don't you worry about nothin' now, Remy's got it." He slips my shoes on and starts to tie the laces as I stare at him.

Aw…he's so sweet. So very…very…very…

I burst into tears again. But it's nothing out of the ordinary, it's _perfectly normal_ for people to burst into tears when someone does something nice for them. I…uh…used to do it ALL THE TIME before I was pregnant. Ahem. That is not a lie! Don't you think it is! You wouldn't want to make a pregnant woman cry, would you?

I didn't think so.

Remy, who has come so used to this by now, finishes tying my shoes before leaning forward and hugging me. He kisses my forehead and shushes soothingly at me. I wonder why he's not freaking out anymore. A few moments ago he was acting like I was a ticking time bomb.

But…oh my lord. I AM a time bomb. I'm going to explode any minute! No…the books said that wouldn't happen either. But what if the books are all wrong? WHAT if I do explode, the baby falls out, we don't catch it and—and—and…no! I have to catch the baby! I am going to be a TERRIBLE mother!

"Remy, I'm scared," I whisper fearfully. "What if I don't do it right?"

Remy leans back a little and searches my face. "What if you don't do what right?"

"Everything!" I say as a fresh wave of tears come flooding to my eyes. "What if I'm a bad mother? What if I can't breastfeed? What if I don't push right? What do I do if I get sick when the baby spits up or poops or-"

"Um-"

I suddenly gasp as something else comes to mind. "Oh my God! Remy! We never bought any baby wipes! We got a butt-load of diapers in there, but no baby wipes! What are we going to do Remy? How are we going to live without baby wipes?"

Remy takes my face in both hands and leans forward, staring intently into my eyes. "Rogue, I love you." He says firmly, "I will call Kurt and ask him to pick us up some baby wipes. We will get some, no matter what. If you get sick when the baby poops or spits up, that would be the most natural reaction in the world. You can breastfeed, but if you can't, we'll get formula." He smiles a little as I start to calm down. "And honey, I'm not a woman, but the doctor said pushing out the baby is like going to the bathroom. And we all know how to do that, don't we?"

I laugh softly at this. Ok…he's right. There's no need to freak out. I can push out the baby. I can feed the baby and change the baby…

"And Rogue," Remy says, "you're not going to be a bad mother. You're my favorite person in the whole world; I can't imagine that you could ever be bad at anything."

Aw…See, that's why I married him. He's sweet…sometimes anyway…and he loves me. That, and he's got an amazing body, but that's not important right now.

"I love you Remy." I give him a watery smile and he stands and pulls me to my feet.

"And I love you, chérie," pulling me close, he slips an arm under my knees and another across my back. "But right now we have to get to the hospital. Put your arms around my neck."

"But I can walk-" I protest as he easily lifts my weight up and starts for the door.

"We should have been at the hospital ten minutes ago," he says gently as we slip through the door and he somehow pulls it closed behind us. "I'm not takin' any chances."

"Oh…ok then." I concede and lay my head comfortably on his chest. I'm thankful at this moment (as I've been at many other moments) for the power inhibitor Remy provided me with so long ago. I keep it on a chain around my neck, tucked under my shirt so that I can be safe always.

We live in a tiny, dirt cheap apartment but we're never able to get a decent parking spot. Most of the time we end up parking on the side of the road. And the road is a good ways away from our apartment, so that sucks. I'm not sure where Remy parked the car today. He just got back from an impromptu trip to New Orleans to help out his sick father in the hospital. I'd only gotten to see him for five minutes before my water broke.

Fortunately, the car wasn't very far away. It wasn't in front of _our_ apartment, but it was in the parking lot at least and in front of someone else's place. Remy eased me down and helped me in; gently closing the door behind me as if he thought the vibrations would rattle the baby. I feel like I'm being treated more like an accident victim than a pregnant woman, but it's nice. I like being taken care of.

It's June, and the weather is disgustingly hot. This is made even worse for me by the whole pregnant thing which just makes me ten times hotter than I usually am in the summer. So I blast the air conditioner as high as it goes the whole way to the hospital.

Remy doesn't say much. He looks like he's concentrating on the road. Well, actually, he looks like he's dying to put his foot down on the accelerator, but he's driving like an old lady. Thirty is the highest speed he'll go. He actually brakes at the yellow light instead of speeding up (huh, is THAT what you're supposed to do when it's yellow?) and he slows down to a crawl whenever he sees a bump in the road coming up.

When we went over a particularly deep pothole and I lightly bumped my head on the window, he cursed and threatened to sue the city.

I'm not kidding.

My nerves are barely holding on. I really wish he had let me drive. This is driving me nuts. It makes me want to cry. But I won't! But it is something worth crying about, so don't think it isn't. At the speed that we're going, I'm pretty sure that if I jumped out of the moving car right now, I would be perfectly fine. In fact, I don't think I would have a scratch to prove that I'd jumped out of the car.

Just when I've reached the point when I'm about to grab the steering wheel, we roll up to the emergency exit.

"Ok," Remy says, suddenly sounding panicked again, "I'll take you in and-"

"NO!" I nearly shout as I try not to think about how long that would take. "I can walk," I tell him sweetly and I jerk my door open and scramble out before he can protest. "Park the car and bring the bag in. I'll sit down and wait for-"

I'm cut off by the sound of some kind of weird and loud squealing. For a moment I figure that someone's car nearby must have bad brakes or something. But then when I turn towards the source of the noise, it's to see Kitty bounding toward me.

Oh wow. Let's forget about what I said about the bad brakes….and let's not mention that to Kitty.

"Rogue! Rogue! We knew it! We KNEW! Jean just knew!" She stops and starts bouncing on the balls of her feet excitedly as Remy speeds off. Wait, speeds off? NOW he speeds?

"Ok, that's nice," I grumble as I start to waddle towards the sliding emergency doors. Oh wow, my back hurts. And my feet hurt. And my ankles. And my legs…and pretty much my whole body. Being pregnant hurts. And good lord it's HOT outside.

I place my one hand on my back as Kitty walks beside me, still chattering like an annoying little bird.

"Are you having contractions? How far apart are they? When did they start? When's your due date again? Jean already went ahead and booked you a private room."

"She did?" I ask. Jean works in the hospital as a nurse now, but she doesn't work in the maternity ward. She actually works in the ER (emergency room).

"Yep," Kitty nods happily, sending her ponytail bobbing up and down behind her.

As we walk through the doors of the ER, I'm immediately rushed at by Jean (in a pair of green scrubs), Kurt, and Professor X. It was kind of freaky. I'm not used to everyone paying so much attention to me all at once. And I'm especially not used to everyone coming towards me at the same time…it's creepy.

They all start talking at once, asking me question after question that I can't possibly answer when they won't give me any time. I can't get a word in edgewise and it makes me want to cry. Again.

Fortunately, I'm saved by Remy who runs in behind us, nearly toppling over me he's running so fast.

"You haven't checked in yet?" He asks wildly before taking hold of my hand and herding me over to the counter.

He signs me in as one of the nurses brings a wheelchair around the desk for me. I eye it distastefully before I ease down into it. I don't need a stupid wheelchair. It's completely unnecessary. I am perfectly capable of walking to the room myse—OH crap, contraction. This one's a little stronger. But it's not unendurable. But with it comes more leakage.

Lovely.

"That happens when you're water breaks, you don't have to be embarrassed," the nurse tells me in a soft little voice as she wheels me through a pair of swinging doors.

"It just keeps coming like that?" I ask nervously as I try to cover up the wet spot on my pants with my hands.

"Oh yes, that's completely normal."

Remy is suddenly beside me again, a little out of breath. He slips a hand into mine and squeezes it.

The nurse (whose name is Shelby) sets us up in a humongous private delivery room up in the maternity ward and helps me into a gown and up onto the bed. The room is large (I'm guessing because they would need a lot of room to move around) and has five sitting chairs, a TV, a nice view of the city out of the window, and a bathroom connected to it.

Nurse Shelby is just checking my blood pressure when a doctor comes in. I recognize him—though I only met him once. He's got brown curly hair and he's as short as I am. This is not the doctor that I _want _to help deliver my baby but apparently you don't get to choose. I didn't really care for this guy because…well…he's very strange. I could _swear_ that he was a pervert but I can't seem to catch him in the act…Oh, you'll see what I mean.

"Good afternoon, Rogue," he smiles…creepily. Yeah, is smile is creepy. He's just one of those unfortunate people who have a creepy smile. "Are you in labor?"

I really have to fight not to sling something at his head. Of _course_ I'm in labor you _dumbass_. Why the hell else would I be here?

"Yes Doctor Mason," I manage to grind out through a plastic smile. "My water broke."

"I see that," he says happily as he places my file on the counter and pulls out a pair of gloves. "Well, let's see what we're working with."

Wait, so he saw that my water broke, but he came in and asked if I was in labor? Oh, I'm in for a crappy experience aren't I?

Nurse Shelby lowers my bed and then runs off to do something across the room. Doctor Stupid comes to stand at the end of the bed and lifts up my gown without any preamble. Remy, still holding my hand, leans down to kiss me on the cheek for seemingly no reason at all.

"I just came back from lunch," Doctor Stupid tells us from between my legs, "I ate a sub sandwich. It was SO good. Yes, it seems that your water has broken."

I fight not to roll my eyes. Good thing he was here to tell me that. Otherwise, I might not ever have been able to tell.

Doctor Stupid nods. "Yep, nice and juicy. The sandwich, I mean," he says quickly when both Remy and I jerk our heads at him. "Lots of juices. And crispy lettuce, MMMM, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it."

OK, SEE what I MEANT? The guy is a pervert! Or is he? I can't tell. He's very _weird_.

"You're three centimeters dilated," he says, finally pulling away and heading over towards the sink. "Are you having contractions?" He asks as he strips off his gloves and starts washing his hands.

I nod.

"How far apart are they?"

I think for a moment before answering. "Um…about every ten to twelve minutes."

"And how long have they been that consistent?"

"I got up at nine this morning and I've had them since then," I say. "Five hours ago."

"Ok," he finishes drying his hands and then comes over to stand next to the bed. "You're most likely in labor," I try not to roll my eyes again, "but this might not be the end."

"Um…what?" I ask quickly. This BETTER be the end. I'm sick of being pregnant. I want my baby already.

"Sometimes when the water breaks and it's too early, it'll heal itself back up. I saw on your chart that your due date isn't for another week."

"But…you said I was three centimeters dilated."

He shrugs. "That actually doesn't mean anything. Women have gone for weeks while they were three centimeters. You can still do normal, everyday things when you're three centimeters and sometimes you can't even tell that you're that far along."

Oh _great_. So I might be pregnant for another week or two? NO. Hell no. This baby is coming out today, whether it wants to or not.

"But I wouldn't worry; I'm positive that you're in labor."

What! Then why the hell did he say all of that? Was it just to scare the crap out of me? I'm gonna end up killing this guy, I just know it.

"So I'm going to have Shelby set you up. She's going to hook you up to a machine so that we can monitor both your and baby's heartbeat. That way, we can see how far along your contractions are coming and how long it will take for the baby to come."

Remy and I both nod. Shelby already explained this to us. I really want to tell Doctor Stupid so, just to make him feel even more stupid, but I…oh wow, being pregnant has made me mean. Oh…that kind of makes me want to cry. What…what IF I'm mean to the baby? I certainly don't want to be, but what if I can't help it?

"So, what are we expecting, girl or boy?" Shelby asks us a few moments later after Doctor Stupid has left.

We both shrug. We decided to be old fashion and wait to find out. It was definitely more exciting that way. I think so anyway. Everyone has bet that I'm having a boy because I crave blueberries constantly. I'm leaning more towards a boy, Remy thinks it's a girl, and Kitty thinks it's a girl too.

Who knows…maybe its twins.

Oh good lord. Thank God it's not twins. We have ultrasound pictures to prove it, too.

Wait…that wasn't nice. I should thank God if it was twins. Blessed with two children, that's a good thing. I'm so horrible. I think I'm going to cry about it. And I just thought of this, but maybe we should have found out if it was a girl or a boy. What if the baby has its feelings hurt when we go back to the apartment and it sees its nursery? We didn't know the sex of the baby so we painted it green.

What if the baby hates green? Oh my gosh…WHAT if the baby hates the apartment? What if…what if…

Ok, I'm gonna go cry now.


	2. The Chapter With The Reminiscing

**A/N: This chapter is dedicated to my Dad, who wanted to name me Aphrodite. I'm dead serious.**

**Thanks to: TheBlueFoxtrot A Samba, marchforth, queenith2 (**No, I highly doubt it :) and thank you!**), tenchi13, blackberryhunttress (**Yes, Jean will eventually explain**), aecul, Rogueslove22, Indigo-Night-Wisp, stalkergurl, **and **forbalthegreen. **

**Thank you for reading and reviewing! It makes me happy :o)**

…

Yeah, I had me a good, long cry. I'm one of those rare and freaky people who don't feel like crap after they cry. I feel so much better after letting everything out. It's like it just refreshes my emotions and lets me start the day over.

Remy doesn't see it this way. He hates it when I cry. So while I cried my heart out into the pillow of my hospital bed, Remy hugged me, patted me on the back, kissed me, tried to make me laugh, offered to go down to the gift shop and get me a present, and he even made funny faces and then threatened to cry too.

I ignored all of his attempts however, and cried until I felt better. So ten minutes later, I dried my face, tried to make myself look presentable, and raised the back of the hospital bed so I could comfortably sit up.

"Ok," I tell Remy happily, "you can go get everyone now."

He stares at me for one long, confused moment before shaking his head. "You are strangest person I've ever met." Then he grins. "And I love you very much."

He swoops down and kisses me before I can say anything and then sprints out of the room. Hm…Odd that he thinks that way because I've always thought that _he_ was the strangest person that_ I'd_ ever met. He is. He's the weirdest freak of nature I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. We've been married for three years yet everyday he somehow finds a new way to shock me.

Yep, married straight out of high school I did. Now, this is NOT something that I recommend for everyone. I DON'T regret marrying Remy, not for a moment. But sometimes I wonder if I should have waited a little longer.

Ah, who am I kidding? Remy would have married me even if I had refused. You might say that that would be an impossible thing to do, but I wouldn't. Remy has a way of getting what he wants. The man was bound and determined to marry me as soon as he could, and he did it.

The first time he had brought up marriage it was in a normal, everyday conversation. He just simply asked me what I thought of marriage and…I got up from the couch and ran away. Then later, when he found me, he didn't say anything about it.

Of course, a week after that, he asked me out of the blue what my ring size was. And me, being the naturally dramatic person that I am, told him that I was going to chop off my hands so I wouldn't have any ring size to speak of. He just gave me a worried look.

A few more weeks went by and he didn't say anything else about it so I got comfortable again, and actually forgot about it myself. Those days are just a happy blur in my memory now. Just a blur of kisses and laughing and Remy, Remy, Remy, Remy, Remy, and then a whole bunch of Remy.

Then one day he comes up with a ring, demands that I marry him, and then says if I don't, he's going to jump off of the roof.

Naturally, I accepted.

Ahem. Ok, I'm just kidding.

Actually, one night he took me out on a normal date. We went to the movies, saw Lord of the Rings, then when putt-putt golfing where Remy hit the ball too hard and it ended up flying out into the parking lot and cracking someone's windshield. After paying the pissed off guy for the damages, Remy happily brought me home to the mansion and walked me to my room. He gave me a good night kiss that made my toes curl inside of my shoes and then winked before heading off downstairs.

I'd heard his motorcycle roar off when I went to bed, and had wondered where he had gone but I didn't know until years later why he was leaving.

So blah, blah, blah, I went to bed, and I was rolling over when I heard a little metallic clink on the floor. After cutting on the light, I looked down to see a little diamond ring had fallen (I think it was under my pillow) on the floor. I sat there for a moment, trying to figure if I was dreaming or still awake. Slowly, I picked it up and stared at it for a long, LONG time after that.

I'll skip all of the thoughts that went through my mind but it was something like: did Remy put this here? He must have. Obviously, no one else would have. Unless it was Bobby, he's been pulling these stupid pranks like this lately. Speaking of Bobby, I am so going to kill him for that whoopee cushion at the breakfast table this morning. Maybe I could get a sack of flour and some—oh yeah, the ring.

Then I proceeded to think well into the night. Obviously Remy was asking me to marry him without actually asking me to marry him. And putting the ring here for me to find was his way of letting me know what he was thinking and giving me time to think of my answer. Because he must have known that if he had come up and asked me I might have said no since I like to think things through.

Well, when I'm not acting stupid I like to think things through.

Because to think things through, that would make you a smart person and I am most definitely not always a smart person. In fact, if you ever saw me on one of my more frequent 'slow days' you'd think that I had some severe mental problems. Which I do.

But anyway, back to the story…

I slept a total of three hours that night after making my decision. Obviously, my answer was yes. I could marry Remy and love Remy and be with him forever, or I could say no, run off, lose the only man I've ever loved (the only man I could ever love), and end up alone for the rest of my life. And I knew that I would be alone the rest of my life if I let go of Remy. Remy is my _one,_ he's my _only_ one. How could anyone come after him?

They couldn't. So the next morning, I woke and dressed in a rush, ready to find Remy and tell him what I wanted. But before I could leave my room, Kitty came bounding into it, shining with excitement. I was about to ask her what was going on when she threw open my window and told me to look outside.

Nervously, I did so. And I was a bit shocked by what I saw.

Sunflowers. It must have been at least a thousand of them, all stretched out on the lawn, shining brightly in the summer sun, all facing my shocked face. It actually took me a moment to notice that they were spread out into shapes…shapes of letters.

Rogue will you marry me? That was what it said. He had even gone to the trouble of spelling out the question mark with the flowers too. Remy has always been one to extravagate on everything, but this just topped the cake. This was ridiculously over the top and…it was all for me.

Remy was standing down in the midst of all the flowers, giving me the biggest grin I've ever seen. Then he got down on his knee and well…you know what happened after that. He asked, I said yes, we got hitched, Remy was really enthusiastic about the honeymoon, we were married for a couple years and then BAM! I'm pregnant.

Well, maybe not BAM, it was nicer than that. It was more like...oh wait, you don't want to know that.

At least I hope not.

But you should know that it's all Remy's fault. Not that I mind, I want my baby very much. But what I did not want was for him to make me gain twenty pounds (though I think half of that is water weight and the baby), make my ankles swell and my bladder to be pushed to its limits. Morning sickness only lasted for a little while, but I'll tell you that it was NOT fun.

One of the least fun things is having to get used to doctors always wanting to 'examine' you…down there. But really though, you kind of get used to that. After a while it just becomes such a normal occurrence, it's like going to the grocery store or shaving your legs. That sounds so messed up, but I'm telling you, it's true.

Something else that you get used to is complete and total strangers running up and touching your belly. Why anyone thinks this is acceptable behavior is beyond me. The first time it happened, I was five months along and walking through the mall with Kitty when some woman just runs up and starts running her hands over my stomach.

She very nearly died that day. I had swung back to hit her when Kitty had caught my arm and told the woman to get lost. I would have hit everyone that had come up and grabbed me after that, but if I had, my arm probably would have fallen off, so I just gave up.

I'm getting bored. Where is everyone?

I glance over at the door, only to see that it's closed and it doesn't have one of those little windows in it. I suppose that must be because it's a delivery room. If it did have a window in it, I might just find myself asking the hospital what the hell they were thinking.

Blah blah blah…I'm bored. Ah! Contraction…

It's still not that bad though. Right now it just feels like period cramps. Wait…why didn't they give me the epidural yet? Hm…They better give it to me soon, or I _will_ cry.

Ok, this room is already starting to feel suffocating.

"You better come out soon, little one," I murmur quietly as I gaze down at my swelled stomach. I run my hands lightly over it and then push down just a little. I'm awarded with a few kicks in response.

I really wish he or she would hurry up. I want to see if my baby looks more like me or Remy. Maybe it will have Remy's red eyes and my white streak in its hair. Ha, oh WOW, I really hope it doesn't look like that. Thankfully the thing with my hair isn't genetic.

But it will most likely be a mutant. I sigh as I think of this. I know there's only a five percent chance (according to Mr. McCoy) that the baby will be a normal human, but I find myself wishing that maybe it will be.

Being a mutant is hard…It's definitely not as hard as it used to be, when the secret that we existed first came out, but it's still not easy. You can't tell people that you're a mutant, or they'll freak out. Performing mutant powers in the presence of humans is against the law. It's perfectly legal to turn down business from a mutant, whether that be at the grocery store or any restaurant or appliance store. I don't go to school anymore but I've no doubt that things there are any easier.

But if my baby is a mutant, there's no way that it'll be loved any less. In fact, it's going to be the most loved mutant ever. And if anyone tries to mess with my kid, I'm going to feed them their own teeth. That is, _after_ I'm done dunking their head in the toilet and burning the soles of their feet with a blowtorch.

I'm sweet, aren't I?

There's a light knock on the door before it's pushed open slowly to admit Kitty, Kurt, Professor X, and Remy.

Kitty is somehow looking more excited than she was when I last saw her half an hour ago, Kurt smiles at me, but then he notices the TV and forgets me, Professor X rolls up to sit at the foot of my bed, and Remy comes back to sit right next to me.

"Did they say how long?" Kitty asks excitedly after she leans down and kisses me on the cheek.

"No," I shrug, "But I don't figure it can take too long…I've been having contractions all day….where is Jean?"

"She had to get back to work," Remy tells me softly, "she says congratulations and she should be off within a few hours. She'll come up then-"

"Wait, I thought that when your water breaks it makes the baby come faster?" Kurt asks suddenly, cutting Remy off.

"I thought so too," I reply, "But I guess every TV show and movie was wrong. After I got pregnant and started reading the baby books, I started wondering how they went into labor so fast…I mean, how did they get all the way to be ten centimeters dilated within ten seconds?"

Kurt makes a face at me. "What does dilated mean?"

"It's my cervix opening-"

"AH!" Kurt clamps his hands down over both of his ears and looks at me as though I've just said something horrible.

Geese, it's not _that_ bad. It's just my cervix thinning out and opening to make room for the baby to come through…Ok, so maybe I can understand why he doesn't want to hear about his sister's cervix. But still…he shouldn't yell like that…I might get scared if he does that suddenly and if he startles me I might just cry.

That actually happened two weeks ago. Remy dropped a glass, it broke, I nearly jumped out of my skin because it scared me, and then I cried because I got scared. And then I cried because it was one of my favorite glasses. And then I cried because we're not filthy rich and we're having a baby and we really can't afford to buy another glass to replace it right now. And then later I cried when Jean and Scott surprised me by buying me four new glasses.

And now I'm about to cry because I just remembered all of that.

"Are you ok?" Kitty asks softly.

"Yes," I furiously wipe at my eyes, filled with unshed tears. I _hate_ that I'm so emotional. I _hate_ that everyone is here to witness me being so emotional, and I _hate_ those curtains! The décor in here seriously needs some help. This hospital is in dire need of Martha Stewart.

Oh, that doesn't help! I hate Martha Stewart too! Her show creeps me out for some reason or the other…I think it's her voice.

"Do you want some ice chips?" Kurt asks as he awkwardly pats me on the leg.

"Ice chips?" I ask in confusion, "Why would I want that?"

"I thought that's what pregnant women had to eat when they were in labor…" Kurt said, "Am I wrong?"

Oh shazbot! He's not wrong. Grrr…I should have eaten a bigger lunch. I'm hungry and now all I can eat is some stupid ice chips because if I eat food I might get sick…Have I mentioned that I want the baby to hurry up?

"No, no," I say quickly, "That's right…I'll take some ice chips. Thanks Kurt."

Kurt smiles before exiting the room.

"So," Professor X finally speaks up. "Have either of you thought of any names?"

I glance over at Remy. Oddly enough…we haven't talked about it that much…probably because everytime we started talking about it, I either cried over something, threw something up, or the baby started kicking and drew our attention to it instead. I swear I think it did it on purpose.

Ok, I know that's impossible but…I don't know…maybe…

Anyway. We had talked over a few names and we have three narrowed down for a girl, and we haven't agreed on anything for a boy. And I know the universe likes to play dirty tricks on me so that's how I know I'm going to have a boy.

I guess if we have one we'll just name it Boy. Boy Lebeau.

"Actually," Remy's eyes are bright as he takes my hand and looks at me, "I heard a name when I was in Louisiana."

Oh lord.

"Yeah?" I ask uncertainly. "What was it?"

"It's the best name ever," Remy grins, "it's for a boy…"

"Ok…"

"It's Boaz."

I let out this strange noise that I've never heard come out of my mouth before. It's a mixture between a gasp and a strangled yelp. Good great fluffy mashed potatoes—he _better_ be messin with me. Then again, if he is, and he just made my heart race around like it is right now for no reason, I _will_ cry over it.

But the longer I look at Remy with my wide-eyed look of horror, I slowly come to realize that he's _not_ kidding. He seriously wants to know my child Boaz. Not only is this baby doomed to have red eyes, a white stripe in its hair, and be a mutant, but Remy wants to name him Boaz!

God, I've never asked you for much, but PLEASE let me have a girl.

WHY would Remy want to do this to our child? WHY? WHY would he want to do this to ME? Can you imagine? I can. I can see myself walking through the grocery store, pushing the baby stroller and someone coming up. They would look at the baby and say 'oh what a sweet little baby! What's his name?' And I would have to say Boaz!

And then this imaginary person would look at me like I was insane and probably call child services on me. Though they could be looking at me like that because I said the name Boaz with so much contempt, as though the name itself tasted like crap on my tongue. WHICH, by the way, I'm sure it will.

But let's look at the bright side. At least he doesn't want to name it something like Gaylord or Dick or…Adolph. And at least when child services takes him away they'll give him to a more normal family who will probably change his name to something normal like Bob or…or…Stan or Jacob.

But NO! I don't want my baby taken away or to be named Bob! Or BOAZ for that matter…I won't let Remy do this, I won't! I will threaten his life before I let him name my baby Boaz!

"Boaz?" I ask in a strangled whisper.

"Uh…" He says uncertainly as he watches the emotions flicker across my face. "I…thought it was kind of cool."

"Remy," I close my eyes and try to remain calm. "I love you but…There is no way in hell that I am going to name my child Boaz."

"But-"

I snap my eyes open and at the same time I can feel my crazy emotional and hormone fueled temper snapping as well.

"Boaz Lebeau…" Remy says in a tiny voice.

Hm…Actually, that doesn't sound that ba—AH! NO! He did not just make me think that!

"No child of mine is ever going to be called Boaz!" I whimper, feeling the stupid, _stupid_ tears of frustration starting to build up. "I can't let my baby be taken away from me!"

Remy looks at me confusedly. "What?"

"Please don't make me name him Boaz," I cover my face with my hands and as I do so I notice that Professor X and Kitty are looking a little awkward.

"Remy," Kitty says gently, "You know I'm your friend and all, and I love you but…Boaz is an atrocious name."

Since I've covered my face and am trying very hard to control my emotions, I don't get to see Remy's reaction to this. I just hope he doesn't get his feelings hurt.

"Oh, I know," I hear him say, "I was just messin around."

And that's when I see red. Or to be more specific, that's when I slam my hands down into my lap and fix Remy with the hardest glare I can muster. I suddenly have a strong urge to pull the I.V. out of my arm and poke him with the needle. And when I'm done doing that I can kick his chair over.

And _yes_, I have noticed that being pregnant makes me a tiny bit mean.

Just a tiny bit.

But as I glare at Remy, I see that he isn't smirking as I thought he probably was, and he's not grinning either. He doesn't look playful at all like he usually does when he's teasing me. Instead he looks guilty and a little sad at my reaction. He scratches the back of his neck and clears his throat.

Well. At least he's not being a jerk.

"I'm sorry," he tells me apologetically, "I didn't think you would react that strongly."

Wow. It's not everyday that Remy apologizes or even feels bad for teasing me. He teases me every opportunity he gets and he's never had a problem with making me mad before. And oh my God…I had fantasies about poking him with a needle and throwing him to the ground. How horrible of me.

"Oh Remy!" I bust into tears and reach for him. He looks a little uncertain and nervous of coming closer, but he's kind of forced to when I grab the front of his shirt and drag him down to me. "Thank you for not really wanting to name him Boaz!"

I almost choke as that name comes out.

I cry into his shirt and he automatically puts his arms around me and tries to soothe me.

"Uh…" Kitty says from somewhere at my side, "Maybe we should come back later…?"

"No!" I say quickly as I draw back and start wiping at my eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm just a little emotional." I attempt to smile at them through the tears but I can feel my lower lip trembling. "I'm fine," I say in a shaky voice, "I'm…I'm fine!"

And that's when I burst into tears again.


	3. The Chapter Where Kurt Is Bitten

**Disclaimer: I don't own Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster, any of these characters, and I didn't make up the Maury show. **

**A/N: I wasn't planning on updating today but…it turns out that today is the BEST. DAY. EVER! =) Yep.**

**Thanks to: Indigo-Night Wisp, TheBlueFoxtrot A Samba, tenchi13, Demon Flame, forbalathegreen, Rogueslove222, LyllithWho**, **.Lu**, and **Fantasyfan4ever for the awesome reviews! **

**This chapter is for Daryl…I WILL get you for getting that baby don't look like me song in my head. **

**...**

"How about Jeremy?"

"No."

"James?"

"No."

"Jacob?"

"No. Why can't you think of anything other than names that start with J?"

"Fine, what about…Barney?"

"HELL. No."

Remy sighs as he drops his head onto the bed next to me. We've been arguing for the past ten minutes over names. Every now and then Kurt, Kitty, or Professor X will suggest a random name but every one of them I don't like. No boy name sounds quite right to me. None of them _click_. I keep a hand on my stomach as I listen to every name but the baby doesn't kick once.

Of course, I don't tell anyone that I'm judging the names by if the baby kicks or not. This is a crazy method but I've gone for nine months being pregnant and have yet to pick a name and I have to pick _something,_ so I'll let the baby decide. It should know its name better than I would.

"How about Kurt?" Kurt grins at us.

I still my hand over my belly but the baby doesn't kick. I guess it's not a Kurt. "No," I say, "I think that would eventually get confusing."

They all sigh again, sounding slightly exasperated. I glance over at Remy to see that he's looking very tired. Haha. Well, after that whole Boaz thing I think he deserves it.

"What about…" Kitty glances around the room and finally her eyes rest on the window. "Squirrel?"

The baby kicks. Oh crap.

"Why is there a squirrel on the window sill?" Kitty asks as she heads over to the window and peers out. "How did it get there?"

Kurt walks over next to her and looks out. "It looks like it walked along the ledge from that tree over there," he points out, "Poor little thing, it's probably stuck now."

I have no interest in a squirrel outside of my window but I look over there anyway and from where I'm sitting on my bed I can just make out the furry little thing sitting out there. It looks relatively innocent and kind of sad. It looks up at Kitty and Kurt with a tiny pair of eyes that seem to get bigger and sadder when he sees them standing there. The poor thing looks scared to death and I can't help but feel bad for him.

"Aw!" Kitty cries, "Kurt, do something! Help him!"

"Um…What?" Kurt asks uncertainly. "How am I supposed to do that?"

"Teleport out to the ledge and get him!" Kitty says this as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"I feel for the poor fellow too, Kitty," Professor X says, "but I would strongly advise against Kurt teleporting out to the ledge."

"Yeah," Kurt sounds relieved as he nods, "Besides, if you want to help him so much, why don't you just phase through the window and get him?"

Kitty huffs and crosses her arms over her chest. "He might bite me."

"He might bite me!" Kurt says shrilly.

"Yeah but then that wouldn't be _my_ problem!" Kitty argues.

Kurt's mouth drops and he looks like he wants to say something very mean in response. "Kitty-" He starts but then he stops as he glances over at the squirrel and both he a Kitty let out a gasp.

"What's going on?" I ask as I strain to see what they're freaking about.

"It almost fell off!" Kitty is holding her hands up over her mouth and looks like she's about to start crying. "He tried to turn around but there's not enough room! Kurt, do something!"

"Dammit it all to hell," Kurt grumbles as he starts taking a closer look at the window.

"Uh, what are you doing?" I ask with some alarm. If he lets that squirrel in my room…I _will_ sit on him.

"Looking for the latch-"

"Those windows won't open much," Remy informs him, looking as apprehensive as I feel. "They had to make it that way so that no one opened it, fell out, and then sued the hospital."

"How is anyone going to sue the hospital after they fall from this high?" I ask him sarcastically, just to get on his nerves.

"Haha," he says dryly.

"Yeah, thanks for the lesson," Kurt says rudely, "but if I don't do something an innocent squirrel will die."

Oh crap. He's found the latch and is now attempting to open the window. As Remy predicted, it gave him a good amount of trouble and after several moment or so of struggling with the window, Professor X giving up on trying make him stop and wheeling across the room, me and Remy telling him to cut it out, Kitty urging him on, and the squirrel looking up at him innocently, Kurt finally got the window to open two inches.

Remy stood up quickly and moved to stand in front my bed, telling me to get under the covers just in case. I comply automatically since I have no desire to have a rabid squirrel attack me. As I duck my head under I can hear the sound of Professor X's chair wheeling further away and Kurt trying to coax the rodent closer.

"Aw!" Kitty says softly, "Look how cute!"

"Come here squirrely squirrely squirrel!" Kurt is saying, "Look, I have fur too, wanna see?"

"I don't think that thing looks…healthy," Remy says nervously and I can feel his hand lightly touch my knee. "Don't let that in here!"

"Oh come _on_," Kurt says and I can imagine that he just rolled his eyes, "what is the sweet little squirrel going to—AH!"

Obviously the 'sweet' little squirrel has done something. I can't help it, my curiosity, plus the inkling feeling that if I ever want to see someone get attacked by a squirrel, I better look NOW gets the better of me. I pull the blanket off of my head and strain to look around Remy (who has taken a defensive posture in front of me) to see that the _sweet_ squirrel suddenly strongly resembles drawings I've seen of what artists perceive Satan to look like.

He's latched onto the Kurt's hand and now has his blood running over his teeth, and I could _swear_ that I saw his eyes glint red. Kitty is screaming, Kurt is screaming, I can't see Remy's expression, but I know mine must be horrified, and I glance over at Professor X to see that he is a wearing a look that says, '_I told you so_'.

Somehow through all of this, Kitty thinks to slam the window close over the squirrel, but the squirrel, being the evil mastermind that it is, lets go of Kurt at the last second and turns (NOT falling off of the ledge) and runs off, laughing. Yes, laughing. I heard it making some weird noise…I know it was laughing.

But my thoughts immediately leave the squirrel and its strange sense of humor when I see Kurt's hand.

"Oh my GOD!" Kitty is freaking out at the bloody mess that used to be Kurt's finger. "Kurt! Your hand! It's bleeding!"

"Thanks for pointing that out, Kitty!" He screams. "I didn't NOTICE!"

"You should go down to the E.R.," Remy says quickly, "And when you come back up, don't be pulling more-" Uh, I'm gonna insert an BEEP here-"like this! In case you haven't noticed, we're _trying _to have a baby!"

"What?" Kurt seems dazed and didn't seem to take in anything that Remy just said. "I'm going to get some help," he says before running for the door. Kitty follows after him, sobbing the whole way, and Professor X quickly glides out of their path as they rush past him and out the door.

As soon as they were gone, the room rang in silence. Remy turns slowly to stare at me in shock, suddenly looking much more tired than he did a few moments ago. The Professor quietly wheels to my side and we all just sit there quietly.

And that's when I burst into hysterical laughter.

I say _hysterical_ because I'm laughing, NOT because any of that was funny, but because…it wasn't funny. I know it must be because of the roller coaster ride of emotions that I'm currently on. The stress, the tears, the anger, and it must come in a complete circle because I can't help but laugh now. Some things about what just happened will probably be funny later. But not now…Now it's just hilarious that I'm in shock.

I know; it makes no sense. But no matter how much sense it doesn't make, suddenly I look up to see Remy shaking his head slowly and trying not to laugh as well.

"That's not funny," He says quietly as he rubs a hand on his eyes and tries to hide a smile.

"I know," I gasp for breath before I start laughing again. "That's what makes it so hilarious!"

"Rogue," he says, sounding like he's about to tell me off for laughing at my brother. That is, right before he snorts loudly into his hand.

Professor X soon joins us too and then we're all laughing our selves silly as though this were the funniest thing we'd ever seen. Of course it _wasn't_ funny at all. On the contrary, it was scary. But somehow one thought gets into my head. When everyone comes later, and they ask where Kurt is, what do I tell them?

Do I say, oh, Kurt? He got bit a rabid squirrel. Just the thought of this person's expression as they hear this news is enough to make me laugh until I cry.

And then something else comes to mind…Will Kurt be scared of squirrels from now on? I know I'll never again be able to look at one and NOT crack up laughing. But everytime Kurt sees a squirrel, while the scar on his finger hurt? Will a cold chill run up his spine? Will his skin become cold and clammy?

Will he have nightmares about this incident?

I'm _terrible_.

But this is _hilarious. _

I can't believe that Kitty and Kurt were air-headed enough to walk up to a wild animal and stick their hand out and expect it react nicely. I can't believe that he risked his sister and her unborn child's life to save a damn squirrel. Usually, this is not something that I would laugh about, but suddenly it's funny.

Not to mention—Ah, contraction.

This one is a bit stronger, not much, just slightly. But fortunately it's still not bad enough to make me demand any drugs.

But unfortunately it _is_ enough to bring me back to the present; to make me realize that a wild animal biting my brother really isn't _that_ funny, and enough to make me remember where I am and why. I'm here to have a baby. At some point later today I'm going to be someone's mom.

Holy _crap_.

And Remy is going to be a dad. And Kurt is going to be an uncle. Haha…Kurt. No, I can't let my mind drift back to that!

I hope I'm going to be a good parent. I'm scared. This is scary. And even though I've been pregnant for nine months, trust me, the fear does not go away. No, the longer I wait for my baby, the more time I have to think about it...To sit in fear about it. What if I drop it? What if I drown it by accident when I try to bathe it? What if I get tired of it? What if I can't hold my temper with it when it won't go to sleep? What if it doesn't like me?

And…OH. MY. GOD.

WHAT if I let it spend too much time around Kitty and it ends up with the same vocabulary? WHAT if the only adjectives my child ever uses are marvelous, spectacular, amazing, un-cool, and icky? And I don't think I would be able to stand it if it used the word 'like' in every sentence.

Don't get me wrong, I love Kitty.

But…

Ahem.

I'm being mean again, I know. Excuse me, I'm hungry.

Next to me, Remy and Professor X have stopped laughing too. Remy has taken one of my hands and is absently stroking the back of it with his thumb. I guess I was so wrapped up in my thoughts before that I didn't realize that the room was silent. But looking at them now, it doesn't seem like either of them mind. We sit in comfortable silence for a few more moments before I grow bored.

I mean, there are so many things that I can think of before I can't entertain myself anymore. And now I'm going to attempt to force my fearful thoughts that have anything to do with the baby out of my mind. Right now I just need to concentrate on getting him or her out of me. I'll have 'fun' with my crazy fears later.

Since there's nothing else to do, I grab the remote control from the sliding table next to my bed and turn on the TV.

Its mid afternoon so there's really nothing on. Days of Our Lives is already over. Phooey. So I could watch Pimp my Ride, Judge Judy, The Maury show, or Little House on the Prairie.

I turn on the Maury show. Mostly because the subject is the same as usual…The subject is, 'I slept with an army of men and now I don't know who my baby's daddy is'.

I did _not_ make that name up. That is the _actual_ name of the topic.

If you've never heard of the Maury show, I'll try to explain what it is. It's just like Jerry Springer, only slightly less trashy and not as many topless women and they don't have a stripper pole on the stage. Pretty much, it's just a bunch of people who go on with their random problems (the most common the one as mentioned before) and expect Maury and a crowd of rowdy, cursing people to fix it.

If you don't know who your baby's daddy is, Maury will perform a paternity test for you. If you think your husband is cheating on you, Maury will give them a lie detector test for you. If you have a horrible phobia of chickens…Well, Maury will bring out a guy dressed as a giant chicken and have him chase you. Because _that_ always helps people get over their fears.

Today, like I mentioned before, there are women trying to figure out who the father of their baby is.

Remy rolls his eyes at me as I set down the remote and watch the TV. He likes to pretend that he doesn't like this show, but I know he does and he's just trying to hide it.

For a second a thought crosses my mind…three years ago before I really got to know Remy, I would have never in a million years have guessed that one day, he would be sitting with me in the hospital and watching the Maury show as we waited for our baby to be born. Nor would I have ever imagined that Professor X would also be sitting next to us, lifting a curious eyebrow at our show selection and sitting back to watch it too.

Hm.

But I can't dwell on it any further; the show is coming back from commercial.

"That baby don't even look like me!" A man is insisting as he motions to a picture of a baby on a giant screen…A baby that looks exactly like him. "And she was sleeping with half the county anyway!"

At this point, the woman, who is supposedly the mother of his child, stands from her chair, picks it up, and throws it at him. The man barely dodges it and is cursing left and right, the audience is going crazy, Maury is looking like he really wants to leave, and a bunch of security guards come up on the stage to hold the fuming woman back.

And for some reason, the only thing this woman has to say to this is, "I may have slept with half of the county, but it was only because—" And then there was a lot of BLEEP sounds that affectively blocked out whatever she had just said. By the time the bleeping had stopped, the woman had stopped talking and the audience was in an uproar, screaming and applauding.

"Oh, come on!" Remy says, sounding upset, "Now we don't know what she said!" But then he catches my eye and quickly clears his throat. "Uh…I mean, you should turn this crap off."

I laugh softly before focusing on the TV again, only to see that Maury, who now had an envelope in his hand, had stepped forward.

"The results are in!" Maury said and the audience hushed…mostly. "Maria, you have had thirty other men tested to see who the father is-"

"_What?_" Professor X gasped next to me.

"-and I hope for your baby's sake that you find him soon." Maury said before he started opening the envelope. He pulled out a slip of paper and looked it over. "When it comes to the case of Maria's four-year-old son…Randy," he looked over at the man who was still being guarded by security, "You ARE the father!"

DUN DUN DUNNNNNN!

This show is awesome.

The woman is trying to attack the man again, screaming 'I told you so' while Maury smiles at the camera before the show goes on another commercial break. Beside me, Professor X is staring in shock at the TV.

"Thirty other men?" He questions us before he slowly shakes his head. "I…I…Where did you find this show?"

"Uh," I scratch the back of my neck, "On TV…"

Remy chuckles softly next to me. "I don't think Charles can handle your kind of TV, Rogue."

"You like it too," I nudge him with my elbow. "Don't pretend you don't."

Remy shakes his head at Professor X and tries to look innocent.

"Hey," Remy turns to me before I can argue with him further, "We never finished picking a name."

"Oh, no, I guess we didn't," I chew my lip as my mind goes back to names again. I have no idea what I want to name my child. This isn't good. If we don't pick something soon, he or she is going to be very offended. Hm…I guess we should have found out if it was a boy or a girl after all…That probably would have made this process a tad bit easier.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could have _sworn_ that I saw Professor X grimace at Remy's words. But when I glance over at him quickly he's just smiling at me. Hm…

"Well since we already have three girl names picked out," Remy says, "Why don't we pick one of those?"

"OK," I nod and try to remember what we had picked out. It was…um…uh…It started with an S…or was it K? Um... "What were they again?" I ask Remy, but he blinks and then starts to look confused too.

"It was…" And then he drifts off as he stares at my bedspread, brow creased in thought. "Um…"

"I suppose those names should be counted out," Professor X says quietly.

Eh…he's probably right. Professor X is always right though. But there were names that we actually liked! We looked in the baby name book and picked them out! We forgot our own baby's name. That can't be a good sign.

Remy finally shrugs. "I don't know, I'm sorry…Why don't we start naming names?"

"Fine."

"Ok…" Remy clicks his tongue in thought. "How about…Michael?"

"Too common."

"Alright then…Kevin."

"No."

"Regis?"

"And KELLY?"

"I like Kelly fine."

"I hate Kelly." I say fiercely, "she creeps me out."

"I meant the name."

"Oh…Then no."

Remy sighs. "Fine…Ronald."

"McDonald?"

"Oh! You're right. Good call...Ok, how about Harry?"

"It's not a wizard, Remy!"

"Um…Susan."

"Tell you what," I say, growing agitated at the fact that we don't seem able to name our child, "We name the baby after the next person that walks into the room."

Remy stops and stares at me before he grins slowly. He laughs softly but then leans back in his chair and folds his arms behind his head. "Alright then, if that's what you really want."

Then we fell silent as we all stared at the door. Even Professor X turns his chair around so that he can see when someone walks through. And it's about at this moment that I regret suggesting this. Someone is going to come through that door and have some ridiculous name. I highly doubt that anyone named John will come through. The name John is normal. Of course, if someone with the name Rudolf comes in, I'll just refuse to name the baby that. But then, Remy will undoubtedly remind me that I had agreed to it and tease me about it.

But I'll just cry until he relents. It shouldn't be that hard to work up some tears. In case you haven't noticed, I'm a _bit_ emotional.

But not that much.

The silence stretches along with the time as we continue to stare at the door. What if no one comes in? Oh no…What is Dr. Stupid comes in? What if Kitty comes in? No, I am not naming my baby after a cat.

Ahem. Yes, I know that Kitty's name does not originate from a cat. But I'm still not naming by baby Kitty.

"We could name it nobody," Remy says after several minutes of staring at the door and seeing no one coming in.

"Be quiet," I shush him and try not to laugh.

Professor X holds up a hand. "Wait, I think I hear someone coming!"

We fall silent and sure enough, there is someone walking down the hall, but there's no way to tell if they're headed for this room or not. I hope so, I'm starting to get bored just sitting here and staring at the door. And also, I hope that whoever it is, if they are coming to this room, that their name isn't something like Big Bird or Elmo or…Cookie Monster…Pretty much all Sesame Street characters are a big no for me.

The footsteps stop and that's when someone knocks on the door before opening it slowly.

We all lean forward a little, expecting to see someone we know, but it just turns out to be a nurse…A male nurse…A freakishly cute male nurse.

Don't tell Remy I said that.

"Hi there," he smiles politely at all of us, "sorry to bother you, I just need to get something over here." He speaks as he heads over to the sink area that's surrounded by a few cabinets and drawers.

"Oh, that's no problem," I tell him casually. I glance at Remy before adding, "What's your name, by the way?"

He turns to look at us over his shoulder as he rifles through one of the cabinets. "My name? Oh, my name is Boaz."

I drop my face into my hands and fight not to groan, Remy's mouth falls open and he openly gapes at him, and Professor X looked like he was about to fall right out of his chair.

Fortunately, Boaz didn't see any of this.


	4. The Chapter With A Biscuit

**A/N: OK, so I did some estimates and I'm pretty sure this is going to be seven chapters…and then maybe an epilogue. Yup…**

**Thanks to: Demon Flame, .Lu (**Aw, poor squirrel!**), LyllithWho (**Excellent choices ^_^**), queenith2, Indigo-Night-Wisp (**I can try to put some John in here for you somewhere…**), Fantasyfan4ever, Rogueslove22, aecul, Raven34link, TheBlueFoxtrot A Samba, **and** Megan 360 (**Lol! I never thought anyone would actually call me that…**).**

**This chapter is for Ava, because I'm borrowing your name. **

…

"Alright hon, it looks like you're four centimeters," Nurse Shelby tells me in her soft voice. She stands up as she takes off her gloves and heads for the sink in the corner.

Four centimeters? That's it? My contractions still don't hurt that bad but it's been nearly two hours since I've been here and I'm only four centimeters? I thought the water breaking was supposed to speed things up. But it's _not_. Nothing is going faster, the clock seems to be moving slower than normal, I'm hungry, I'm cramping, and I have to pee.

And not only that, but now I've inadvertently said that I was going to name my baby Boaz. Damn that stupid man nurse! WHY did his name have to be BOAZ of all things? What the hell is a matter with his parents? Who names their baby Boaz? Me, apparently. NO! I will not name my baby Boaz! I refuse!

I express all of my feelings to Nurse Shelby. Except that part about Boaz, of course. She nods and comes over to pat me sympathetically on the leg.

"I know, it's hard, I've had three," she says gently. "Now how about we get you to the bathroom?"

I nod sadly and she takes the opportunity to start messing around with my IV. Remy and Professor X left the room a few moments ago when Shelby came in and said she was going to check me. Remy didn't have to leave, but he followed Professor X out the door claiming that he was going to go check on Kurt.

I have a strong suspicion that he's actually going to get something to eat and he's just not telling me. But that's ok, he needs to eat too. Still, thinking this does nothing to make me less hungry or make me not mad at him for eating.

He shouldn't be eating! He should be suffering along with me! That's right. That's what I think. Don't judge me!

Have I mentioned that I'm hungry and irritable?

Nurse Shelby is the main person that I like right now. She is being so sweet and caring and attentive that it makes me want to cry. I'm really glad that I got her as a nurse and not someone else. She doesn't even stare when the back of my…er…backless hospital gown comes open as I stand. Though I suppose that's normal for a nurse. Shelby must see a hundred butts a day.

Aaaand back to the subject. Oh wait, there wasn't a particular subject. No subject other than my griping, that is. I try to hold my gown together as I trudge into the bathroom. When I come back out, Shelby is standing there with a robe for me.

See, Nurse Shelby is just awesome.

After helping me into the robe, and then helping me back into the bed, I'm left alone…For about two seconds.

Kurt comes in just as Shelby is going out. His index and middle finger are tied together and wrapped up in two inches of white gauze. He's lookin kind of pale and doesn't appear too chipper as he comes in and sits down heavily on the chair next to my bed that Remy has vacated.

"Rogue…" He says slowly, "Next time I want to do something so stupid…remind me of this," he holds up his injured hand.

I try not to laugh or show that this amuses me in any way. "Um…Ok." I cough quickly and cover my face with my hand to hide the stupid grin coming up.

Kurt stares at me, unsmiling. "Do you know what they did to me? Do you know what I might have?"

"What?" I ask a bit worriedly.

He sighs heavily before he continues angrily. "Since I was bitten by a wild animal, I'm in danger of catching rabies. So they gave me a shot here," he points to his upper arm, "and then another on my ass."

I can't help it, I bust into a fit of giggles. This is so mean and not at all funny, but it's just making my day. Uh...but not as much as the baby coming of course.

Kurt just stares at me, failing to see the humor at all in the situation. Hm, I wonder why?

"Where's Kitty?" I ask quickly, trying to subdue my giggling.

Kurt narrows his eyes, suddenly looking quite pissy indeed. "_Kitty_ left me! As soon as we went down to the E.R., Piotr comes in and Kitty went running off with him!"

My mouth drops at hearing this. Kitty is known for ditching us for what she calls her 'totally like, marvelously hot boyfriend'. But for her to leave Kurt when he needed her there…Geese…That's kind of screwy. And…wait a second…Where did they run off to? I'm up here in labor about to have a baby for cryin out loud! They didn't come see me? Hmph.

Fine, they can just be that way. If they want to run off and make out instead of coming to see me then…they don't get to hold the baby.

Yeah, I said it.

Mwuahahaha…Oh, I am _so_ going to use that to get what I want from now on.

"Hey, where's Remy?" I ask Kurt suddenly.

He shrugs. "I dunno, I haven't seen him."

AHA! So he _did_ go get something to eat!

"But Jean said that she's getting off soon," he continues, "And Logan and Ororo called a while ago and asked what room you were in."

I was just starting to wonder why no one else had come up here…I mean, I know they have jobs and lives but…my baby is way more awesome than their jobs and livelihoods.

"Ok," I nod instead of saying any of that to Kurt who _might_ disagree with my opinion. But he had better not disagree! Not if he wants to hold his niece or nephew! Heh heh….

"Are you bored?" Kurt asks me as he leans back in his chair.

"Yeah," I shrug, "kind of. Who knew having a baby could be so boring?"

His shakes his head slowly before yawning. "Well they always say that the pain is worth it. Or so I hear."

I grin. "I think they say that because of the actual _pain_, not because of the boredom."

His eyebrows come together as he frowns at me. "Are you in a lot of pain?"

"No, not much. I only hurt when I have a contraction and they only come every ten minutes or so."

"Ok," he nods, still frowning. "But if there's anything you want, let me know, ok? I'll sneak you some food in here if you want, or hook up a DVD player to that TV," he nods at the TV, "or get you some more ice or give you a foot rub. Do you want a foot rub?"

A foot rub sounds amazing right now. My feet haven't stopped hurting for nine months; no matter how many times Remy rubs them for me. But just as I'm about to let Kurt know this, a better idea comes to mind. Well, it's probably not a good idea but…it's what I want.

"Actually," I say to Kurt hopefully, "there is one thing I want…But you might have to get a nurse's approval…"

Kurt leans forward. "Say it, whatever you want, I'll make it happen."

I grin, suddenly liking my brother more than I ever have before. "Well…I kind of want out of here…just for a few minutes? I feel kind of trapped…I want to see the babies in the nursery."

He stands up and confidently starts walking to the door. "You've got it, Rogue," he says over his shoulder, "I'll go get a nurse; be back in a sec."

I highly doubt that he's going to be successful but I find myself hoping it just a tiny bit anyway. To get me out of here, they're going to have to unhook me from the machine that's monitoring the baby's heartbeat and drag the IV out of the room. At least I'm still wearing the robe that Nurse Shelby gave me, so I don't have to worry about mooning the whole hospital.

But I don't think they'll even give me the opportunity to moon anyone. They just want to keep me trapped in here, I know it. It's in the hospital's evil agenda. That's right, on the big white board up at the desk I'm sure it has a list of what to do that day that says something like: get more gloves, perform c-section, go to lunch, torture Mrs. Lebeau until she goes crazy…

I'm sure that's what it says.

I don't even know if I'm _supposed_ to be let out of this room. What if it's unsafe? I have no idea why it would be unsafe, but what if it is? Oh my gosh…what if I suddenly shoot to ten centimeters while I'm out in the hall and have the baby right _there_?

No, wait…the pregnancy books said that wouldn't happen. Not that I wouldn't have the baby, it said that I wouldn't just spring open like that. Or…actually, it used a lot of medical terms for that, the words _spring open _didn't appear once. BUT, however, the words _mucus plug_ **did** appear. But I won't tell you what that is. Judging by Remy's reaction when I told him what it was, and then showed him a picture…apparently people don't like to know those things.

I won't go through that whole interaction, but it went something like…

"Hey Remy, wanna know what a mucus plug looks like?"

"What's a mucus plug?"

"This!"

"…"

"Remy, are you ok?"

"Rogue…_why_?"

"That is _inside_ of me."

"AH!"

Yeah, that was really toned down version but you get the gist.

Suddenly the door opens and Kurt walks in with a very young looking nurse trailing behind him. She's very small with dark hair and eyes and she looks very nervous. Kurt stops next to my bed and looks at her expectantly but she just shifts from foot to foot nervously.

"I…I don't know about this, I don't know if it's allowed-"

"It's definitely allowed," Kurt says smoothly, "I have a friend who has had children and she said that they let _her_ out of the room."

Geese, when did Kurt become a liar? And when did he become so good at lying? Just as I'm getting over the shock that he's outright lying to this poor girl, he sends her his best grin. Oh lord. That's not good. I slide my gaze over the nurse who is now blushing brightly and wringing her hands in front of her.

"I s-should go a-at least ask someone f-first," she stutters over her words and quickly looks at anything other than Kurt.

I attempt to deliver a kick in Kurt's direction but the blanket over my legs hinders my movement. I didn't think he saw, but afterwards he came up to stand near my head.

"I already asked someone else," Kurt said, "and she told me to get you."

Still blushing furiously, the girl raises her head and narrows her eyes at Kurt. "No she didn't."

I couldn't help but smirk. I feel bad that Kurt is lying to her, but I'm still not going to help her out, I want out of this room. But I'm sure Nurse Shelby would let me out and I'm about to say so when Kurt speaks first.

"She did," he insists in a soft voice, "she said that you were the most talented and beautiful nurse on the floor and no one else would do for this job." He sighs, "Well, ok, I added the beautiful part, but can you blame me? You _have_ seen a mirror, right?"

Oh good lord. He's really laying it on thick, isn't he?

I didn't think it was possible, but the nurse turns even redder than before and now closely resembles a tomato. I swear I think she might be about to pass out. I'm actually kind of worried about it—it's entirely possible that…wait a second…when the hell did Kurt learn to do this? This girls reaction to Kurt's flirting reminds me of myself three years ago when Remy would come around.

My face used to burn a lot in those days. In fact, I think that even after Remy left that it still burned. The last time I blushed that bad…Hm, I think it was on my honeymoon. No, wait, I'm positive it was on my honeymoon.

But I'll skip that story.

Even though it is a nice story…sans the burning face of course.

Instead of responding to Kurt, the nurse lets out this weird strangled squeaking sound and then runs out the door. Well…I guess she's shy _and_ flighty.

I click my tongue in annoyance as I turn to glare at Kurt. "Was that necessary?"

He drops his head and shakes it slowly. "Well she is cute…I just didn't think that she would run off like that."

"Right," I roll my eyes, "well I'm going to call Nurse Shelby and see-"

But as soon as the words are out of my mouth Nurse Shelby is coming through the door and being trailed by a very red young woman. I glance quickly at Kurt, trying to tell him with my glare not to do anything stupid. But he just shrugs at me and the younger nurse is staring intently at the floor.

"You want out of the room, honey?" Nurse Shelby asks me.

I nod quickly and try to look as sad and helpless as I can.

"Well that's no problem. Do you want to walk around to help the labor along?"

"No, no!" I say quickly, though I'm not sure why. Walking would make the baby come faster and that's what I've been wanting. But then, let's remember that I don't want to _spring open_ out in the hallway and deliver the baby there.

"Ok, that's quite alright," Nurse Shelby nods and then tells the other nurse to go fetch a wheelchair. She immediately scampers from the room, looking very relieved.

It took ten minutes to get everything situated. It's never taken me ten minutes to simply climb out of a bed and into a chair and I never thought that it would. But first I had to make sure that my robe stayed close so that I didn't flash my brother, then Shelby had to pull the little sticky things off of my stomach that hooked me up to the heart rate machine, then when I was climbing out of bed I had a contraction.

It was a little worse than the others. Still not unbearable, but it wasn't comfortable. Kurt held my hand and patted me on the head like I was a dog, but I was grateful to have him there to hang onto. Shelby waited patiently and murmured words of comfort while the red nurse, who turned out to be named Ava, looked extremely panicked and kept asking if she should go get a doctor.

That was annoying.

Finally we got me completely situated in the chair with my IV hanging on the back of it. Both the nurses leave us—Shelby stressing very hard that we come get her before I get back into bed—and Kurt is left to push me along. We were just walking down the hall when Jean and Scott came from around the corner and spotted us.

Scott ran up, wide eyed and started looking first at my lap, then at the nurses walking away, and then at Kurt.

"Did you have the baby?" Scott asks as he eyes my stomach uncertainly.

"Yes, Scott," I respond in a flat tone, "I had the baby and I'm still this big. It's unfortunate, isn't it?"

Scott blinked and then looked at me seriously. "Rogue…if you keep acting sarcastic then you don't get the present we brought you."

"Oo, a present!" I grin at him. "Sorry I was sarcastic now where is my present?"

"Good God Scott," Jean comes to stand next to him, looking embarrassed. "Lets think before we speak, ok?"

Scott looks like he wants to say something back to this but Jean cuts him off and thrusts a paper bag at me.

"Happy giving birth day," she smiles brightly, "I hope this will make it a little easier."

I rip into the bag eagerly to find…a biscuit. Good gravy it's a biscuit! Yay! Never have I ever been so happy to see a biscuit. Of course, this biscuit has no butter or jelly or any kind of flavoring whatsoever but hey, it's a biscuit. But that's not all. No, I dig deeper into the bag to find—yay! A…a…something.

"Its chicken broth," Jean answers to my quizzical look.

Yay! Chicken broth!

"Those two are some of the only things that won't make you sick when you're in labor." Jean explains. "Of course, there is still the off chance that they could, so make sure you eat them slowly-"

"Whafm?" I ask through a mouth full of biscuit. What was that she said about eating slowly? Oh well, it doesn't matter now, not after I've just shoved the whole biscuit in my mouth. Oh darn, crumbs are going everywhere. I realize that right at this moment when my mouth is stuffed full of biscuit, my cheeks are puffed out from said biscuit, and crumbs are flying in all directions that this moment of all moments is _probably_ not my most graceful. But I just can't find it in me to care. I'm hungry, dammit!

And of _course_ when I look like this, it's when my charming husband and Professor X decide to re-appear.

"Uh—what are you doing in that chair?" Remy asks worriedly. "And why are you eating? And how is Kurt pushing you with an injured hand? And oh-" he ruffles his hair, looking a bit guilty, "um…Kurt…how did you get up here so fast after I saw you downstairs?"

I roll my eyes and attempt to swallow. I don't look up to Kurt's reaction to this but I hear him behind me sounding confused.

"What? You never came to see me…why are you shaking your head at me like that?"

I jerk narrowed eyes at Remy but he's trying to look innocent. Really, does he not think that I figured him out twenty minutes ago? Now that I've got a biscuit and broth, I'm not so upset with him for going to eat. I know it was kind of unfair of me to be…or maybe not. He impregnated me and it's all his fault that I'm going through this. That's right! Not my fault! All Remy's.

You would understand if you had been there. It went something like…Well, have you ever seen those specials about lions on the animal planet? No matter what the subject is, at some point during the program there is always a scene with the antelopes. They're sitting there, minding their own business, drinking from the waterhole. And then bam! Here comes the hungry lion.

Now just make me the antelope and Remy the lion and you've got the right picture in your head. That's how I got pregnant. Except…you know…the antelope is only halfheartedly fighting and then eventually it's having as much fun as the lion.

I can't say that I didn't enjoy it…BUT…it's Remy's fault. THAT I can say.

"How did your hand get injured, Kurt?" Scott asks as he peaks around me to see Kurt's hand.

I immediately force myself to swallow what I've got left in my mouth. "Kurt got attacked by a squirrel!" I squeal excitedly…maybe a little too excitedly. I promptly clear my throat before looking innocently over my shoulder at Kurt. "Sorry," I say quietly…before I remember something else. Something even Remy doesn't know yet.

But I should hold it in…it would be mean of me to say it. But…when the hell is this ever going to happen again?

"And he has rabies!" And then I clamp my hands over my mouth before I can say anything else.

"WHAT!" Said…well, all four of them said that at the same time.

I glance back over my shoulder again. "I'm sorry…"

Kurt just clenches his jaw.

"I'm having a baby," I pout and rub my stomach for emphasis. "It really, really, _really_ hurts." Actually, it doesn't hurt that bad yet, but Kurt doesn't need to know that.

His face softens a little bit and it makes me feel bad. I shouldn't have said anything. Kurt and his rabies are a private matter. Kurt and his…RABIES. Oh lord. I shouldn't have thought that. Now I have to hold in a bubble of laughter I can feel rising in my throat. I quickly turn away from Kurt so that he can't see, but he's not even looking at me. He's looking at everyone else.

"No, I don't have rabies," he says slowly, "they gave me a few shots because I'm in danger of catching rabies…and I have to go back to get more shots later. But that's not important. What's important is that I do NOT have rabies."

There's a long stretch of silence where everyone just stares at him, and while I'm forcing myself not to laugh.

It's turning out to be one of the hardest things I've ever done. Once again, this is not funny at all, yet…there is something stupidly humorous about my brother catching rabies of all things. I mean, he couldn't have caught something normal, something that would have made me laugh less. Like the flu or the common cold or strep throat. Noooo, he's got to go and catch rabies.

I'm sure he did it just to make me laugh.

But anyway, the whole thing is so freaking hilarious that I—AH! Contraction.

Damn. _That's_ not funny.

* * *

_Three more chapters…_


	5. The Chapter With Remy's Confession

**A/N: Those were some awesome reviews! Let's do that again ;)**

**Thanks to: Indigo-Night-Wisp, queenith2, aecul, Fantasyfanever, TheBlueFoxtrot A Samba (**Yes. I do know what I naming it…at least I think so.**), Demon Flame, demonpixie1, Rogueslove22, LyllithWho, blackberryhunttress (**Actually, I have a bad phobia of feet. Though if circumstances really called for it I suppose I might be able to rub them…as long as I had gloves on. And I assumed that Professor X went to eat with Remy when he disappeared ^_^**), Emma. Leigh .Lu, Im-a-book-addict, **and** ruroca57.**

**This chapter is for Marvel. Mostly because they gave us these fantastical characters and partly because I haven't written a proper disclaimer! So I guess I should mention…DISCLAIMER: I don't own these characters, Marvel does! Yay for them!**

**^^All those exclamation points made me dizzy…**

…

There were two babies sitting in the little bassinets in the window to the nursery. They're both so little and pink…one is screaming bloody murder and a nurse comes up to calm it down. The other just looks grumpy and bored as it stares at the ceiling with a face that seems to say '_why me_'?

Kitty has come back, along with Piotr. She says that she's got me a surprise, but she left it in the room. Hm…I don't know whether to be afraid or not. Piotr and Professor X went back to wait in the room for us and I have a strong suspicion that the professor is trying to find the Maury show. But anyway…Kitty is back and she and Jean are cooing over the babies through the window. I only watch them in mild curiosity because…I bet my baby is going to be better.

Maybe I'm being a little biased. OR maybe I'm right. Yes, I am definitely right. My baby will be much more awesome than these babies.

But just because they can't ever be as cool as my child, it doesn't mean that they aren't cute. Of course, I'm sure they aren't as cute as…ok, I'm sure you get my point.

My kid is the best.

I sip on my chicken broth slowly as I watch the babies and listen to Kitty and Jean both at once. Kitty wants to hold one and looks at my stomach as she says hurry up. Jean's face is nearly pressed to the glass, her eyes wide and observant. I glance over at Scott who looks a bit apprehensive. Hm.

"I _want_ one," Jean says in a voice full of longing. She doesn't tear her eyes away from the babies to say this so she doesn't see the look of panic on Scott's face. Oh, that's priceless. I wish she would say that again—that look is too good to only be witnessed once.

"Hey, look at those," Kurt points to a big bunch of balloons that say 'welcome baby' over in the corner. "We should get some of those for the baby," he says matter-of-factly, "I think he or she will appreciate them."

He has a good point there.

An old lady suddenly appears from no where and joins us to look in at the babies. Kurt scoots over to give her some room as Jean speaks.

"You could just go run in there and take one," she says teasingly as she nods towards the balloons. "I'm sure no one would notice."

Behind me, Remy starts running his fingers through my hair. He knows I love when he does that; I love when anyone plays with my hair. There's just something so relaxing about a pair of fingers gliding gently along my scalp in that smoothing manner. After he starts doing this, I barely pay attention to what everyone around me is saying.

"I'm not doing that!" Kurt shakes his head. "Make Kitty do it if you want one. She would be the best person for the job."

Kitty twirls the hair in her ponytail around in thought. "Yeah, I could always like, dress up as a nurse or something. I could snatch one really easily then."

What are they talking about snatching, again? I don't know; Remy's hands feels sooo good in my hair.

"But if I'm going to take one," Kitty continues, "I should just take all of them."

I hear a soft gasp somewhere to my right and I glance over to see that old lady looking appallingly at Kitty. Um…Why is she looking at her like that? And why did she gasp? And why is she shuffling away as fast as she can go? Yes, all interesting questions. But what is most interesting right now is Remy's hands as the nape of my neck, massaging gently. Mmm….

"But I think I've got enough for the baby, already," Kitty says brightly as she turns to me. "Rogue still hasn't seen my surprise for her yet."

"Mm," I say in acknowledgment. I normally would say more but I don't seem able to form a proper sentence while Remy's hands are doing what they're doing.

"Piotr helped," Kitty went on as though I had given her a normal reply, "though I swear I saw him cry when we got to the checkout. I don't know why…we only spent one hundred and something-"

This is enough to catch my attention. What the hell had she bought that was over a hundred dollars? Or more like, what had Piotr bought. Kitty and Piotr act like a married couple all except that they live in two different places. They spend every possible minute together, fighting, kissing, Piotr spoiling her rotten, Kitty getting everything she wants, and then all rounding back up to fighting and then making up again.

Kitty works in some random clothing store in the mall that I purposely avoid shopping at. Piotr works in construction and every cent they both make seems to go toward each other. I always thought that if they ever got married, they were going to be in some trouble. With all the pampering and spending money on useless things (like the time Piotr bought Kitty the giant teddy bear that she just _had_ to have), they were never going to be able to pay any of their bills.

Not only that, but Kitty doesn't seem to have any idea what the value of a dollar is. She for some reason can't get it into her head that Remy and I have bills to pay and we can't always go out to dinner or the movies with her and Piotr. She doesn't seem to understand that saving money is the smart thing to do, and that spending it as soon as you get it is not wise.

Remy and I aren't _poor_ but…we're not rich. We've learned to love the taste of ramen noodles because hey! They're only thirteen cent. Thirteen cent for a whole meal is pretty darn good. We've also learned that you don't _necessarily_ have to buy shampoo and soap…you could always just buy a big thing of dish soap and use it for your hair, your body, _and_ the dishes.

Score!

It's actually not that bad. We only did that for a few months last year and my hair was _really_ shiny.

You know what else is really cheap? Spaghetti, eggs, plain lettuce, tuna, rice, and pancakes. I know this because…that was all we ate last year when Remy had to switch jobs. I also know that it takes a half a quarter of a tank for Remy to get to work and back and exactly how much that costs.

But even though we nearly starved that year and we probably smelled like Palmolive dish soap all the time…I think it was one of the best times of my life. Remy was home more often because he couldn't get any hours at work. We didn't have anything to do because the cable had been cut off and we didn't want to use the gas to go anywhere…So all we did all day was talk, laugh, make love on every available surface of our home, and then at night we would lay out on our tiny back porch and look up at the stars.

And now I've gotten completely off-track with my reminiscing.

But what I was trying to say in the first place was—Hey, there's that old lady again. And…why is that police officer with her? And why are they both out of breath? And why does that police officer look familiar? And why am I asking myself these questions instead of listening to what they're saying?

"She's the one!" The old lady is pointing accusingly at Kitty.

Kitty looks confused, then looks to the right, then looks to the left, then looks behind her, then looks back at the lady and the officer.

"Uh…What?"

"You were planning on kidnapping those children!" The old lady screams shrilly, and screaming like that makes her whole frail little body wobble.

All of our mouths drop open as we stare at this lady. Remy's hands in my hair suddenly still but I hardly notice. What the hell is wrong with this woman? Why does she think that Kitty wants to kidnap the babies? Hm…let me think…

What were they talking about before the woman ran off before…I think they were talking about stealing one of the balloons, though they were just joking. I think.

'_You could just go run in there and take one.' _Jean said that…and Kitty said…_'I could always like, dress up as a nurse or something. I could snatch one really easily then.'_

Oh. My. God.

Kitty the kidnapper. I'm going to call her that from now on, just to bug her.

"I was not!" Kitty argues with the woman and understandably, she looks very offended by her accusation. "What the hell is wrong with you, lady?"

"You said you were going to dress up like a nurse!" The lady screams and I'm not entirely surprised when both of the babies start crying.

"I was _joking_ about taking one of the balloons!" Kitty points through the glass and I glance over there…to see that all the balloons are now no where to be seen.

Holy crap! This is almost as good as the Maury show! This is _almost as _entertaining as Kurt being bitten by a rabid squirrel! And yet again…it's not actually funny at all. I can't help it. Being pregnant has given me a strange and vindictive sense of humor. So what if I find amusement from other people's pain? I'm sure there's something in the pregnancy books about this _somewhere_…

I glance over at the officer to see his reaction to this. He's very young and I can't help but think again that he looks familiar. He's not even paying attention to Kitty and the old lady. Instead he's looking at me with the same curious expression. Finally he smiles and gives me a little wave.

Um…ok.

Then he looks over and starts inspecting Kitty.

"Hey!" He says suddenly, cutting off the old ladies rant about 'juvenile delinquents'. "You're Kitty Pryde!"

Kitty blinks and stares at him. "Huh? I mean…yeah, I'm Kitty."

"I'm Matthew Brown!" The office says excitedly as he steps forward. "We went to high school together!"

Oooh yeah! Now I remember…vaguely. And not really at all…He used to sit three seats ahead of me in English class. Huh…I guess I didn't recognize him because his skin has really cleared up. And his glasses are gone. And his hair isn't in dreadlocks. And he looks like he weighs more than ninety pounds.

Yeah, I really have no idea who this guy is; I'm just making a random guess.

"I don't CARE if you went to high school together!" The old lady screams until her face turns red. "I want to see some JUSTICE!"

Ouch. For an old lady she can really scream.

"Oh, right," Officer Matthew nods. "I'm sorry Kitty, but I'm going to have to take you down for questioning…"

"WHAT!" Kitty stamps her foot on the ground, much in the same way as a five-year-old would. "I didn't DO ANYTHING!"

"Please don't resist arrest," Matthew says pleasantly as he comes forward to gently take hold of Kitty's arm. "I wouldn't want to put you in handcuffs."

Awww I wanted to see handcuffs!

But still…this is the best day _ever_…

Jean, Scott, and Kurt are just looking on with the same stunned looks on their faces. Kitty is glaring at the old lady and muttering things under her breath as she's dragged away. The old lady is following after them, claiming that the police are going to need her. Jean finally shakes her head and then runs after them, leaving Scott , Remy, Kurt, and I behind.

Remy's hands drop from my hair and he comes around to look at me, his face still holding some shock.

"What just happened?" He asks quietly.

He's met with Kurt's shocked face, Scott's blank look…and my face trying not to laugh.

I'm a horrible person.

Surprisingly, this does not make me want to cry.

"I don't know," I quickly cough and cover my face with my hands.

Remy looks at me suspiciously but no one else seems to notice.

"I'm torn between going to help her and staying here for you," Kurt says to me but he's looking down the hall where Kitty and the others have gone down.

"Jean will sort it out," Scott speaks up, "And if she can't convince them I'm sure she can think of _other_ ways to make them believe her."

I guess by _other ways_ he means Jean using mind control to change their minds. Heh heh…Kitty the kidnapper. Kitty is actually being dragged off by the police right now on suspicion of conspiracy to kidnap. Oh, this is just too much. I'm sure she'll be fine and be back soon, since she is innocent. And the best part of all of this is…years from now I'm going to be telling my baby the story of when Aunt Kitty got arrested on their birthday.

Wow. This is not funny.

And when I say _this_, I mean _this_ contraction. It's much harder than the others, I can already tell that before it fully hits me. I just feel it creeping up and I grip the arm of the wheelchair in anticipation—and then it comes at me.

Ow.

And by OW I mean OUCH, someone just put a crate of dynamite inside of me. My insides tighten painfully and I close my eyes and bite my lip to distract myself from the worse pain. AT first these felt like regular period cramps. Now they feel like period cramps from hell. And not only that, but it's not ending as quickly. It's taking longer to go away than my previous ones and that stretches the pain out even more.

Then after what seems like forever, slowly the pain recedes...mostly anyway. I open my eyes to see Remy on his knees in front of me and I didn't even notice that he had grabbed my hand and I had been squeezing him tightly. Kurt and Scott are both behind him and looking concerned. Kurt says something that I don't hear before racing away down the hallway.

"Are you ok?" Remy asks and I notice that his voice sounds a little shaky.

I nod quickly. "Yeah, I'm alright. It was just a bad contraction. Where did Kurt go?"

"To get the nurse," Remy's voice still sounds shaky. "Let's get you back to bed…"

I don't protest as he turns my chair around and starts back towards my room. I want one of those epidurals NOW. I don't want to feel that again, that just hurt.

It takes a few minutes to get down the hall and back to my room. By that time Shelby is back with the jittery nurse Ava. Shelby is just wheeling me through the door when another contraction starts coming. I whimper and squeeze my eyes shut again. All I have to do is think of happy things. Happy things like…like how this is pain isn't for nothing. After I deal with all of it I'll have a baby. I'll be someone's mommy.

Remy is another happy thought—I struggle to keep my mind on that as the pain grips me from the inside. Remy, Remy, Remy…The way Remy's face looks so different when he gives me a genuine smile, the way Remy's eyes lit up when I told him I was pregnant, laying on our bed with Remy pressing his ear to my stomach and talking softly…Curling up at Remy's side after a long day and watching Days of Our Lives, messing with Remy by telling him I was having twins and watching him nearly pass out, laying in the darkness of our bedroom and listening to Remy's heartbeat…

The pain eventually lessens.

I open my eyes slowly and take a deep breath. Everyone is watching me; everyone except for Nurse Shelby who is looking at her watch. She glances at me and then back down and nods.

"Forty nine seconds exactly…that's good, that's normal." She nods in approval. "You took that very well, too. On a scale of one to ten, how great is the pain?"

I glance over at Remy whose face suddenly looks very white.

"I guess I'd say a seven…almost an eight."

"Ok," She nods again. "I'm going to check you again, let's get you up on the bed…"

Everyone left except for Remy. Kurt gave me a thumbs up and the others sent more encouraging words my way. Shelby checked me and then told me that I'm six centimeters and ready for my epidural. I sighed in relief as she walked across the room to page the Doctor. Remy hadn't said anything the entire time, just held onto my hand and ran his other hand through my hair in a comforting gesture.

After Shelby was finished I looked over to study him more closely. His face was still white and his lips were pressed firmly together…it's strange but he looks like he's was about to cry.

"Remy," I whisper so that Ava, who is hooking me back up to the heart rate machine, can't hear. "I'm ok, don't worry so much."

He blinks and looks at me like I'm crazy. "Rogue, you're in pain."

"It's not so bad…" I lie gently, "and besides, once they give me that epidural I won't be able to feel…" I trail off as another contraction starts coming. Remy leans closer and unconsciously I loop my arms around his shoulders so that I can press my face into his neck. Somehow having him closer makes it more durable. Having something to hold onto, something to anchor me and remind me why I'm doing this helps a good deal. It does nothing to lessen the pain but it stabilizes my emotions so that I don't completely lose it.

Tears sting the corner of my eyes as the cramping just seems to get worse every second. I'm suddenly filled with a great respect for every woman that has ever gone through this before me. At least I get the option to get a shot and turn the pain off. But so many women before me had nothing to help them. So many women had more than _one_ kid and didn't have anything for any of them. Back years ago men didn't even go back to see the birth or anything before it, so they didn't even have the comfort of knowing that their husband was there for them.

I'm very grateful that I live in this day and age and even more grateful that I have Remy here with me. His presence alone is enough to soothe me. As long as Remy is here I know that everything is going to be ok.

"I'm sorry," Remy whispers when the contraction finally starts settling down again. His voice sounds oddly shaky and he clears his throat loudly as he looks at me.

"For what?" I ask him dazedly. Here I am thinking about how grateful I am to have him and he's apologizing.

"I should have been more careful," he continues to whisper and his voice sounds scratchy. "With the birth control…it was my fault…I want our baby but I don't want you hurting."

"Oh Remy," I draw him closer again and give him a long, hard hug. "Don't be sorry," I say firmly into his shoulder. "You know…unless I'm mistaken, I think it takes two to make a baby."

"Don't joke," he replies into my hair, "I'm being serious."

"Me too." I squeeze his shoulder reassuringly. "Don't be sorry, I want my baby more than anything. I wouldn't change this for the world."

This seems to calm him down a bit but his voice is still shaky as he continues to speak.

"Rogue…I…I have to admit something." He says, sounding guilty. "I lied to you." He pulls back to look me in the eyes. "I…I really do like the name Boaz."

He sounds so sad and guilty as he says this that the look on his face nearly breaks my heart. And while this does nothing to make me like the name Boaz, I still feel like I should comfort him and tell him that the name isn't SO bad…I can't believe I'm about to say this.

"Remy…I still really hate it," I say this politely while trying to stay honest, "But…if you really like it that much, we'll name it Boaz…if it's a boy…and we'll only ever call it Bo." That is the only way I will ever allow my child to be named Boaz. Good lord I hate that name.

Remy immediately perks up. "Like on Days?" He asks excitedly.

It takes me a moment to figure out what he's talking about and then I get it—he's talking about Days of Our Lives. There's a character named Bo on there and he's one of Remy's favorite characters. Oh…well, I guess that makes the name not so bad…or maybe it makes it worse. Bo isn't a bad name. Boaz is. But I do love Remy and I suppose I could put up with it if we never tell anyone the baby's real name…

Ok, that's it, I'm having a girl.

If it's not a girl yet, I am going to WILL IT to be a girl. Don't look at me like that, it could happen! Girl, girl, girl, I have to have a girl!

…I'm doomed aren't I?

* * *

_Two more chapters…_


	6. The Chapter Where Rogue Dreams

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or that miracle song at the beginning. **

**A/N: This chapter is shorter than the others because it's just a filler to set us up for the next one which I can (hopefully) have finished by tomorrow.**

**Thanks to: Indigo-Night-Wisp, TheBlueFoxtrot A Samba, Fantasyfan4ever, clueless c (**Well thanks for deciding to review! And I liked the family history!**), Rogueslove22, Shake me down (**Lol, thanks, you're awesome too!**), aecul (**I swear I think your reviews just get better and better…^_^**), **and **blackberryhunttress (**That's sweet :) My mom tells me a similar story except all her and my dad could afford was beans every night for dinner.**)**

**This chapter is for Rosemary, Deanna, Beth, Heather, and Donna, because without any of them, this story probably wouldn't exist since I wouldn't have any idea what I was talking about.**

…

I believe in miracles! Where you from? You sexy thing…

Yes, that song is now stuck in my head. Why? Because that is my happy song. For some reason everytime I hear that song I fall into a fit of giggles. Then one day a long while ago Remy told me that it was his song for me and now everytime I hear it, it's my happy song.

And boy am I happy. This epidural is amazing. I don't feel _anything_ below my waist. Well, I can feel a little pressure in there and I can feel my legs a little, but there isn't any pain. For all I know it could be a normal day where I'm not about to push a human being out of me. Yay! That thought isn't so scary anymore!

I will admit though that it was kind of scary to have it put in. They give you a shot in your _spine_ which is scary enough, but then they tell you not to move an inch. If you do move, you could seriously injure yourself and end up paralyzed for the rest of your life. I'd always heard that it hurt to have it put in so I was scared that I was going to jerk and paralyze myself.

But before they gave me that shot they gave me another one to numb the spot where they were going to be injecting it. That was just a tiny pinprick, I hardly felt it, and then the epidural itself was no big deal. And to be perfectly honest, after having my insides on fire the past twenty minutes, having a needle stick me was nothing. Compared to the worse pain, it actually felt good.

Then after they left, Remy, looking scared to death, told me that the epidural needle had been like three inches long.

Hm…Oh well. I feel fine. In fact, I feel great.

The only downfall to this is that I keep falling asleep, and when I do fall asleep, I don't realize that I've fallen asleep and I think that crazy things are really happening. A moment ago I dreamed that I was stuck inside a giant bowl of tomato soup and Remy was about to eat me.

Then I woke up, told Remy about the dream, and then I fell asleep again and I dreamed that I was sitting in my hospital room, in labor. It was exactly like what was happening in real life so for the longest time I didn't realize that I was dreaming. I didn't understand until (in my dream) Jean came up and asked me if I was tired of being in labor. I said kind of but I was ok. She looked very shocked by this and said, "But Rogue, you must be tired of it be NOW! You've been in labor for six years!"

I sighed in relief when I woke up after that one.

But I'm pretty sure that I'm dreaming again right now.

I think this because for some reason Logan and Britney Spears are in front of me, both in scrubs and gloves and telling me to push. Remy is next to me, talking on the phone and ordering a pizza. Everyone else is over in the corner and watching The Maury Show. I don't remember going all the way to ten centimeters and being ready to push, but apparently it has happened without my noticing. Oh well. I might as well push.

Remy drops the phone and comes over to grab my hand and look to where the uh-'doctors' are bending forward between my legs. I barely push at all, and then suddenly Logan is saying that I'm done.

I look down in anticipation…to see Kitty's head.

"AH!" I SCREAM loudly. I want to wake up NOW! "Kitty, what the hell are you doing down there?" I shriek.

Kitty rolls her eyes as though I'm over-reacting. "Chill out, Rogue. And be quiet; I'm trying to concentrate. It's not easy coming out of your womb, you know."

"Where IS MY BABY!" I yell at Kitty's strained looking face.

"It's in here too," Kitty says as though this is the most obvious thing. "It comes after me. Oh, and it told me to tell you, 'yo mommy."

I gasp. "Is it a boy or a girl?"

Kitty seems to think this over for a moment. "Let me remember…I think it was a-"

And thankfully, that's when I wake up.

The first thing that I notice is that I am, thankfully, not ready to push and Britney Spears is nowhere to be seen. Remy is sitting in the chair by my bed and everyone is quietly watching TV and letting me sleep. The sun outside of my window is just starting to set, and glancing over at the ticking clock on the wall, I'm able to see that it's seven thirty.

Seven thirty…that means that I've been here for five and a half hours. That last time I was checked I was six centimeters. But Doctor Stupid told me that after I got this wonderful epidural that it would cause the labor to slow down. I half hoped that he was wrong. I would be perfectly willing to believe that he was indeed, wrong and stupid (since that _is_ his name after all), but he also told me that the drugs might make me sleepy and/or sick.

So far I've regurgitated the biscuit and soup that Jean brought me, and I can't hold my eyes open for long. So Doctor Stupid might be right after all and not quite as stupid as I initially thought. Maybe I should change his name to Doctor Pervert.

No one notices that I'm awake and I don't let them know. Instead, I look around at them all.

Kitty and Piotr are sharing a chair and invading each other's personal space, as usual. Kitty looks so tiny in his lap and her arms looped around his neck. Oh, and apparently, Kitty isn't in jail. Hm…I will have to ask her about this later.

Jean and Scott are next to them, sitting with each other also but being a bit more modest about it. Jean is sitting on the chair's arm and Scott is in the seat, one arm reaching around Jean to absently stroke her hair.

Kurt had drug a chair over to sit on my other side and he's got his arms crossed in front of him and looks like he's about to fall asleep. Professor X is flipping through a magazine and I note with some amusement that it's _Seventeen_. I guess the hospital had nothing else to offer…either that or Professor X is really bored and has already looked through all the other magazines.

I notice suddenly that Logan and Ororo are here. I suppose they must have arrived while I was asleep. They're still happily married and it shows. I get happy everytime I see them. Right now Ororo is sitting in the last available chair. Logan is standing next to her and leaning on the wall. They've both got their eyes on the TV, though Ororo, like Kurt, looks tired and is leaning her head on the hand that Logan has placed on her shoulder.

I finally look over at Remy, who has noticed that I'm awake but hasn't said anything. He just simply smiles over at me and discreetly slips a hand into mine before winking and then turning back to the TV.

I like the feel of his hand in mine. Or to be more precise, I like the feel of his skin on my skin. Three years I've been able to touch (thanks to Remy) and I never get tired of it. My pulse has yet to stop racing everytime Remy touches me or looks at me or even enters a room that I'm in. The initial thrill of it being _new_ and exciting has certainly gone away, but after that was gone I was left with a feeling of security and love.

I realized a while ago that love was not those little flutters my heart gave when Remy kissed me or the tingles on my skin or the weird flop my stomach did when he was near. That's certainly a part of it, but the way I look at it, love is a commitment. The commitment to give all of yourself to one person, to trust that person with all your heart and in return be trusted with his.

Love is…I'm getting mushy.

Um…it's the drugs. I swear. I swear!

…ok, fine! It's not the drugs! I fell in love. I swear I think I fall in love all over again everytime I see Remy…

And that's enough mushy crap for now.

I squeeze Remy's hand gently to get his attention. He gets the hint and turns to look at me.

"Can you get me some ice chips?" I ask and as I do I can see everyone behind him turn to see me awake. Remy squeezes my hand one more time before getting up and leaving.

Logan comes over and takes his vacated seat to smile at me with Ororo at his side, standing next to him.

"How are feeling, Rogue?" Ororo asks.

"Groggy," I reply as a yawn comes out, "and nauseous now that they put the epidural in…"

"Did that hurt?" Ororo asks curiously. "I've always wondered if it did…"

"No," I shake my head, "the contractions hurt worse so a tiny pinprick was nothing. You look tired…"

"We were on a mission," Ororo replies in a flat voice. "It was less than perfect."

"What exactly was it?" I ask curiously.

The look on her face seems to somehow grow even more tired when I ask this. "Oh, nothing…" she sighs. "It just consisted of mutant hating clowns, eighty-year-old perverts, a psychotic granny out for revenge for…nothing it seems, and lots and lots of caramel popcorn."

"Sweet."

"Mhmm."

"Have you thought of a name, yet?" Logan intervenes.

Ugh…Boaz. Thankfully, right after I got the epidural I was able to talk Remy down to just Bo. I don't mind the name Bo, but…Bo Lebeau sounds stupid. It sounds like we couldn't think of anything else so we just named our kid the first thing that rhymed with his last name. Which…actually…is kind of true.

"Bo for a boy," I tell them. "Remy wanted to name it Boaz but I convinced him to change it to Bo."

Logan and Ororo both stare at me. Logan seems to have gone a little white. "He wanted to name his child Boass?"

"WHAT!" I snorted loudly. "No, BoAZ!" I explain to them as I laugh.

"Oh," Ororo says and they both relax a little.

"What about for a girl?" Logan asks.

I shrug. "We haven't decided for a girl yet."

"I've always had a liking for the name Chelsea," an Australian accented voice suddenly comes from the doorway. We all turn that way—but I know who it is. It's John of course—one of Remy's bestest friends ever. Ha, don't tell Remy that I said John was his 'bestest' friend. I already annoy him enough when I say that John is his 'BFF'…But that could because I told him that they need 'Best Friends Forever' bracelets. "I used to know a Chelsea," John continues as he walks into the room with Remy behind him. "She was nice sheila…until she tried to stab me, that is."

"Uh…" I just stare, unsure of how I should respond to this.

"I always wondered if that was because I said she smelled like a fat man's arse or because I refused to pay her…" John says in thought.

Everyone stares at him in silence.

"Uh," I say again, "you refused pay her for what?...You know what, nevermind…Hi John!"

"Hiya Roguey!"

I _hate_ when he calls me that. And I'm pretty sure that is the reason why he continues to call me Roguey. I've made my feelings about that nickname _very_ clear, yet he keeps callin' me that. But…hm…maybe he would stop if I started crying about it? I might try it if I weren't so sick of being sad. That and these drugs are makin' me really happy…

John stops his progress to my bed and looks around in confusion. "Where's my baby?"

"Your baby?" I question with a raised eyebrow. This is something else he keeps doing. He keeps callin' MY baby HIS baby.

"Yes, Roguey, we've had this conversation. If I'm the godfather-"

"You're not the godfather!"

"-then technically, it's my baby too." John finishes as though I hadn't interrupted.

Don't believe his lies. Though, yes, he's telling the truth when he says that we have had this conversation before. But he is NOT the godfather. Actually, Remy and I have talked about it, and if anything happens to both of us, then the baby goes to Jean and Scott. They're happily married, they both have jobs, they're good people, and most importantly, we know that they would love the baby as if it were their own…When we asked them if they wanted to do it, they said yes and they looked happy about it.

John however, pitched a fit like three-year-old when we told him our decision. John's a good guy…mostly anyway…but I have a feeling that if he had a baby it would get lost in the tornado that is his living room. He's the worst kind of slob I've ever seen. It's so bad I couldn't make out his floor the one time that I had been to his house. Nothing could get me to go back after that.

"It's not your-" I start to tell him that it's not his again, but I figure that there isn't any point so I just stop. "Nevermind. Whatever. And I can't say that I care for the name Chelsea." Especially not after John's story. I'll never hear that name again without thinking of John.

John shrugs. "That's fine. Your loss." He picks up the chair that Ororo recently vacated and brings it over to the side of the bed before dropping it back down. This (of course) makes a loud noise and Kurt is rudely awakened and flies upwards with a gasp and a squeak that sounds suspiciously like 'Rabies' to me.

Oh, I just realized! Ororo and Logan don't know! Heh, heh, heh….

"Kurt, what happened to your hand?" Ororo asks then.

Heh, heh…

Kurt blinks a few times as he takes in his surroundings. "What?" He asks Ororo, sounding dazed. She repeats the question and Kurt, eyes narrowed, looks over at me. "You didn't tell them?"

I casually clear my throat…before I bust out-"Kurt got bit by a squirrel and now he has rabies!"

"What!" Logan and Ororo say in disbelief at the same time. I notice behind them Kitty jerking her head over at us to gawk.

John, however, doesn't look surprised by this at all. "Bloke's had rabies for years," he says as he eyes Kurt, "he's always looked rabid to me…"

Remy quietly hands me the cup of ice chips as Kurt looks over at me again.

"Thank you, Rogue."

I grin. "You're welcome, Uncle Kurt."

This instantly brightens his mood. For some reason he always gets this funny grin on his face whenever he hears the words Uncle Kurt.

"Where is the babe anyway?" John asks.

I pause with a piece of ice halfway to my mouth and everyone stares at him worriedly.

"She's still pregnant," Remy says slowly, as though he's talking to a child. "See?" He motions to my belly. "That's what it looks like when the baby hasn't come yet."

"Oh," John says sheepishly. "Kay' then…I'll just have to wait longer to hold my baby then…"

I open my mouth to argue but then I change my mind and close it again. There's no point in arguing. Instead, everyone gathers closer around my bed and we talk for a good while. Thirty three minutes to be exact. Kitty told everyone about her and Kurt's killer squirrel incident. Kitty's version was mostly strange…In her story, the squirrel was nice and sweet before Kurt threatened it and was actually aiming for HER and got Kurt instead.

Everyone thought that was funny. But then Kurt told his version of the story. Kurt's version honestly scared me a little bit. But it was funny too. He says that he saw his entire life flash before his eyes, and that he could have sworn that he heard the squirrel saying his name as it dug into his flesh.

Logan finally told everyone about his and Ororo's mission earlier today. And it really _did_ have lots and lots of caramel popcorn, evil grannies, and old perverts. It was a pretty awesome story until he got to the part about the bear chasing them. That was…um…

While we were talking, a got a special delivery. A delivery guy came in carrying flowers that turned out to be from Hank (who was out of town). Amara moved away a year ago but we still talk occasionally. I don't know who told her I was in the hospital, but she somehow found what room I was in and called me. We talked for ten minutes until John asked who I was talking to. I told him and then he 'accidently' pulled the phone out of my hand and starting flirting away. That was weird.

I asked where Tabitha was, wondering why she hadn't come to see me but I found out that she was at home with a stomach virus. So I guess everyone that wanted to be here is here. My whole family…it makes me happy.

Kitty also told the story of being in jail. Well, actually, she says that she was never put into a cell (aw) put she was brought to an office downstairs and questioned. It probably really helped her that the security guard (I've already forgotten his name) that knew her in high school also used to have the biggest crush on her.

Then she showed me the present she and Piotr had gotten. It more like presents actually since it turned out to be a basket of things that she thought I might have forgotten or I might need extra of. Just things like breast pads, baby wipes (yay!), diapers, a changing pad, a little green outfit that says 'I love my aunt', baby laundry detergent, and ton of other things.

During all of this time, I feel a little more pressure inside with the baby. I know that this is a sign that it's coming so I ask Remy to call the nurse.

But when he does, everyone starts freaking out.

"You're what!" Kitty squeals.

"Are you really?" Jean looks over at Scott. "I want one…"

"Wait, hang on," John says into the phone before looking at me. "Did you say my baby is comin'?"

"Did the Mets win today?" Scott asks Piotr.

"I hate the Mets," Logan growls.

"Do I have time to eat before the baby gets here?" Kurt asks me seriously.

"You never picked a name for a girl…" Professor X says.

"I love you, Rogue." Remy says sweetly before kissing the top of my head.

"I love you too, Remy."

"Wow, big family here," Nurse Shelby says in awe as she comes in the door. "Uh…I'm going to check you so anyone you don't want in here…"

Everyone caught on and started shuffling out into the hall. Remy walked over and turned off the TV before coming back over to my side. Shelby walks over to look at the heart rate machine, looking to see how far apart my contractions are coming.

"Hm," she says in approval before pulling on a pair of gloves. "Looks like you're about ready. Your contractions are coming closer together and…" She checks me, "You're nine centimeters; almost time for you to push. Are you ready?"

And _that_ is the scariest question anyone has ever asked me.

* * *

_One more chapter and then the epilogue_


	7. The Chapter With The Birth

**A/N: And since I'm not feeling well and it's Saturday, I've gone on a writing rampage. And the epilogue should be here tomorrow. I think. I hope. Just enjoy the chapter.**

**Thanks to: TheBlueFoxtrot A Samba, Demon Flame, blackberryhunttress, Fire Makes Me Smile, Raven34link, Indigo-Night-Wisp, queenith2, marchforth, Rogueslove22, LyllithWho, **and **Emma. Leigh. Lu.**

**This chapter is for my Mom because she did what Rogue is about to do EIGHT TIMES and didn't have a bit of drugs not once to help ease the pain. Yeah, my mom's awesome. :)**

…

Of course I'm ready. I'm ready as Eddie. Whoever Eddie is…I've never personally known an Eddie, but lemme tell ya', if I knew him, I would be just as ready as he was! I'm babbling…but I'm having a hard time figuring if that is normal, or if it's the situation getting to me.

It could be the situation…I am, after all, trying to push a human being out of my ass. It doesn't hurt as much as it should, but its still work. How could it not be? Everytime Nurse Shelby tells me to push, I have to hold my breath and push. Then when the contraction stops and she tells me to breathe, another contraction comes right after and I have to hold my breath and push again. I mean, I could always not hold my breath, but do you how hard this is to do and concentrate on breathing at the same time?

You know how on TV or in the movies when a woman goes into a labor and ten minutes later she has her baby? You know how it seems to take no time at all (certainly some work and a lot of pain because no woman on TV ever gets an epidural) for the baby to get there?

Yeah…I'm positive now that a man must have written all of that. It's _got_ to be the same guy writing it over and over again. Either they don't want to take the time to go forever and show the whole thing (this is possible) or they really think it's like that. Hm…

But anyway, I've been pushing for a few minutes now. Doctor Stupid isn't even in here, but Shelby seems totally unconcerned by this. With one hand inside of me, she's watching the heart-rate machine to tell when I have a contraction, and then when I do, she tells me to push.

Jittery Nurse Ava who is apparently in love with Kurt is setting things up in the background but I hardly notice her.

Before this went under way, everyone came back into the room, gave me hugs, a couple of fist bumps, and one high five, a lot of I love you's, and a bunch of encouraging words. Months ago I decided that Remy (of course) would stay with me, along with Kitty and Jean.

Jean because she's a nurse (and my friend) and I trust her opinion and would just feel better if she were here. And Kitty because she begged and begged and begged and begged and begged and then she begged a little more until I finally snapped and said she could stay if she wanted to take pictures. Just as long as there were no in-between my legs shots, I would like some pictures of this later.

Remy is on one side of me, holding my hand, Jean is on the other side, brushing my hair back and telling me to breathe, and Kitty is next to her and looking a little white in the face.

Hm. I would ask if she were ok but…I'm the one in the hospital bed.

Besides, it's not like there's _that_ much blood. Not yet anyway.

But now that I'm just lying here, with nothing to do but push, then breathe, push, then breathe, push, then breathe, I can't help but notice those stupid curtains again. They're really ugly. I hope that's not the first thing my child sees in this world.

Oh my succotash! We haven't thought of a name for a girl! Geese…But I'm kind of busy at the moment and don't really want to think about it.

"I feel the head," Shelby smiles at me.

Yay! My baby has a head! And also, my baby is coming. Finally! It took its sweet time getting here.

But then Shelby pulls out of me and stands up. "Now we wait for the Doctor."

Just as she says this, however, Doctor Stupid sweeps into the room, dressed in a blue gown.

"How are we doing?" Doctor Stupid grins…stupidly. "Is it baby time?"

No, we just called you in here because we missed your company. Dumbass…

"Yes," I say, not trying to hide my exasperation at all. I dare him to piss me off right now.

"Ok then," Doctor Stupid says as Nurse Ava slips a pair of gloves on him, "oh, there's the head!"

Someone help me. This guy is an idiot. But at least he's not talking about sandwiches.

"So, did you see that sunset?" He asks. Oh God. "Beautiful, wasn't it? Yes, very beautiful…" Remy and I glance at each other. "I like to go up on the roof and get a closer look." I wish he would jump off while he was at it. "Yes, it's always better when it's RIGHT THERE in your face…"

I whimper and drop my head back against the pillow. Remy looks like he's torn between wanting to deck the guy and wanting to help me. Kitty and Jean are staring at him like he's an alien or something. Really, I'm starting to wonder that myself. Nurse Ava, who is standing behind him, has turned a dark red color, and Shelby is rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

"But enough about that," Doctor Stupid says happily, "I came here to deliver a baby, lets get this show on the road."

So many things about that statement piss me off. First off, it's not a SHOW, and secondly, he's not delivering the baby, I AM. He's just catching it. But I can't very well start arguing with the Doctor when I'm ready to push the baby out.

This goes on for another minute or so. I lose count though; I'm not really paying attention to the time. All I know anymore is pushing and breathing, pushing and breathing. I know at some point I grab Kitty and whisper at her not to take any pictures of the Doctor. Everyone else is fine, but I don't want pictures of that pervert in my baby's photo book.

"You're doing good, Rogue, just a little more," Jean encourages me and strokes my hair.

Remy, on my other side, looks too scared to talk, but holds my hand reassuringly with both of his.

Kitty still looks white and she's down at my knee and getting the best view.

While it doesn't hurt, the pressure is getting greater and greater and I know it's almost over. Almost, just a little more…if I just stop thinking about perverts, ugly curtains, and whether I'm going to be able to name my kid or not, I'll be fine. If I just—holy crap.

"One more push should do it," Doctor Stupid says from between my legs. "Push now."

I do. But by this point I could swear that my body is doing it all by itself. Right now I don't think I can do anything _but _push, whether I told my body to do it or not. I take a deep breath anyway and you've got it—I push.

And…then there's something slippery coming out of me.

"Well look at this," the Doctor is saying, "We've got ourselves a little girl."

I quickly look down—and then I instantly fell in love. My little girl is covered in blood and vernix (that looks like cheese) and some other wet fluid and she's the most disgustingly beautiful thing I've _ever_ seen. She looks absolutely miserable and sends a hearty glare our way.

Beside me, Remy leans closer as he too, stares at her. "I've seen that face before," he remarks in a breathless tone.

I don't really register what he says though; I'm too busy watching the doctor lay my daughter down on my stomach. He pulls out a suction bulb and starts clearing her air passages. This is when she starts screaming. She lets out a pitiful little wail that very nearly breaks my heart.

Kitty is taking pictures somewhere off to the side, Jean is grinning from ear to ear, I feel my eyes sting and realize suddenly that I'm crying, and when I glance over at Remy, I see that his eyes are wide and his mouth is open as if he can't believe what he's seeing.

And then—she's gone. The Doctor has cut the cord and one of the nurses has whisked her away and is weighing and cleaning her and checking her over and the doctor is telling me to push out my placenta. This is a piece of cake though, and I can't tear my eyes away from the sight of my baby across the room, screaming bloody murder. And I realize that she's not just screaming, she is _screaming_. The girl looks _mad_ and ready to spit nails. Awww it's so adorable!

Remy has left my side and gone over to stand next to her while the nurses work.

"Hey there little girl," he says gently as he leans down over her. I'm a little startled when I notice that he's crying too. "Don't you cry now," he continues in that soft tone, "your daddy is here and he loves you _very_ much."

Slowly, the screaming dwindles down until my baby is blinking in confusion and she looks like she's trying to find Remy's voice. This is when I start crying even harder and Jean leans over to pat my arm and comfort me. But at least this time I'm not crying because I'm sad or because I'm angry. This time I'm crying because I'm so happy and it's hard to contain all that happiness inside.

The Doctor is doing something to me, but I don't really pay attention. Kitty is snapping pictures and she's still crying too. Remy is now putting a diaper on our little girl and singing softly. My baby is still quiet and seems to be really listening to him. The nurses are cleaning something up, and Jean looks like she's trying hard not to start crying too.

I realize then how _tired_ I feel. My whole body feels exhausted and I unconsciously notice that I'm shaking all over.

"It's just your body in shock," Jean explains when I ask her about it, "that's completely normal."

A few minutes later, Doctor Stupid stands up and tells me that everything is good with me and then he goes to look the baby over. And a few minutes after that, one of the nurses has wrapped her up and is bringing her over to me. She asked Remy if he wanted to do it, but he shook his head and said that _I_ got to hold her first. This just made me cry some more.

But it's happy tears!

And finally, I have my daughter in my arms.

It makes the whole experience worth it just see her face and hold her tiny little body. I get such a high just from this simple little bonding moment. I've waited nine months for this moment and now it's here and it's everything I had hoped it would be. As soon as the nurse had taken her and she didn't hear Remy anymore, she started crying again. But when they put her in my arms she instantly stopped as soon as she heard my voice.

"Hi baby," I tell her gently as silent tears rolls down my face. I barely notice the flash as Kitty takes a picture—I'm too busy drinking in her features. She looks like…well, she looks like a baby. A tiny little pink baby all bundled up and I wish she would open her eyes…"It's your mommy. I'm _so _happy to see you." And that's when she opens her eyes. They're green, just like mine.

She just stares at me and blinks slowly. Remy leans over next to me and looks down at her too and maybe it's impossible, some people say it is…but I could have _sworn_ I saw a little smile grace her mouth for a split second.

I have a strong feeling that this one is going to be a daddy's girl.

Kitty takes another picture and I glance up—I had completely forgotten that there were other people in the room. Jean, who is now freely crying, stands up and pats my arm. "We'll give you guys a minute with her," she tells me and both she and Kitty walk quietly from the room.

I liked having both of them here, but I'm grateful that they're letting us have our moment. The nurses and the doctors have already left so it's just the three of us now.

Remy and I just stare at her for a long time. Maybe I'm imagining it, but I swear I think she gets more beautiful by the second. She just looks like a baby to me, but I can see some Remy in her. Something about the way her mouth is set reminds me of him. Her little head is covered in a cap to keep it warm but I peak under there anyway to see a light dusting of dark hair. She's got ten fingers, ten toes, two arms, and two legs so that's all good. She's not very long and she seems to weigh nothing. But my favorite part of her is her cheeks. They're little and chubby and seem to be naturally rosy.

"Thank you," Remy says quietly as he wipes his face with the back of his hand. "Thank you for giving me this; she's the best present ever."

I laugh softly but I don't take my eyes off of her. I'm not ready to look away from her quite yet. "You gave her to me too…"

"Yeah, but you did all the work," he replies as he bends to kiss her tiny forehead and then lifts and kisses mine too. "I love you."

"I love you too," I say as fresh waves of tears come. I don't try to stop them—there isn't any point. "And I love you," I say to the tiny bundle in my arms.

I really do love her—its amazing how fast and how hard I've fallen for this little girl. I already loved her when she was in me, but now I've seen her face and held her in my arms and I can feel a large piece of my heart already reserved just for her. A large piece (if not all of it) that no one else can ever come close to touching. I could never love anyone as much as I love this little thing here. And all she did was blink at me and stare.

I can literally feel her tugging at my heart strings. And somehow I know that it's only ever going to beat for her ever again. Her and Remy. My little family. Remy and I made a _family_. I'm a mom and he's a dad. I still can't get over that.

We made a little girl. A little girl that doesn't have a name. But I made her _in me_ and she's mine, all mine.

I can't believe I'm so lucky.

"What's her name?" Remy asks then as he continues to stare down at her.

"I don't know," I have to whisper because I'm still crying and my body is still shaking. "What about little girl?"

Remy grins. "I like it. My little girl."

"No, my little girl," I say teasingly as I give her a little squeeze. "Oh!" I say as I realize something. "Remy, you didn't hold her yet!"

"That's ok," Remy says, "You hold her first."

"No, it's your turn," I tell him halfheartedly as I bend to kiss her again. I don't want to give her up but it really is Remy's turn.

Remy seems to realize this and sits down on the bed next to me. Then he takes her so that I can still see her and touch her if I want to…Which I do. I never want to let go of her but I hold back and let Remy have his moment.

"You're my little girl," he tells her and her eyes widen just slightly as she takes him in. "But you know that already, don't you? I bet you do. And I bet you're the smartest and prettiest baby ever. In fact, I know it. You, baby, are the most wonderful thing besides your mom here to happen to me. And I you love both more than anything else in the world."

Keeping her eyes open for so long seems to have exhausted her. Slowly, she closes them as she listens to Remy's voice. I don't know how much one can cry until all your tears are gone, but my body seems to be willing to try it out. I don't mind it though; I feel so exhausted that it feels good to get them out.

I'm not sure how long we sit there just watching her but I know it's a while. However long it was, it was the best amount of time that I've ever spent just doing nothing. All we did was sit there, but it was fun and I enjoyed myself immensely.

Then, finally, there was a knock at the door.

It opened slowly and Kurt poked his head in to look at us. "Can we come in now?" He asks anxiously. "Jean and Kitty won't tell us what it is and we're dying out here!"

Laughing quietly, I wave them in and they all come tiptoeing but racing up as fast as they can.

"It's a girl," Remy tells them and is met with a chorus of 'Awww'.

"I knew it," Kitty has her arms tucked around Piotr's torso and is still crying. "I knew it all along!"

"Uncle Kurt," Remy says and Kurt is already grinning. "I think your niece wants to see you."

"Well of _course_ she does," Kurt says as if this is the most obvious thing in the world. He eagerly holds his hands out and Remy slips the baby into his arms carefully. "Rogue…" he says in disbelief as he looks down at her, "there was actually a _baby_ in you." He looks like he can't believe it but then nods in approval. "She's very pretty; you did a good job."

Now everything feels complete. Everything feels _right_. My whole family is here. As long as I have all of…as long as my little girl has all of them, I know we'll be ok. She won't ever go hungry or feel unloved. I won't let it happen. If someone wants to mess with her for being a mutant, she's got all of us to back her up. She's been with me for months and I've loved her all along and finally she's _here_. I don't think I'll ever get enough of her.

Kurt doesn't get to hold her for very long; John kept staring at him the whole time, muttering something about wanting to hold 'his baby'. John's got her, then Jean's got her, then the Professor's got her, then Scott's got her.

Scott looks down at her little face just once and then with a tiny smile he looks over at Jean. "Ok, let's have one too."

Jean nearly fainted.

Ororo held her, and then Logan was holding her, making some _very_ Un-Wolverine like sounds at the bundle in his arms. I know THAT will be one of my favorite memories. Then finally, Kitty is holding her.

"Hey there…What's her name?" She asks Remy and I. We both glance at each other. We haven't chosen a name but we better do it now. "Oh well," Kitty shrugs and then looks back down at her. "Hey baby girl, happy birthday! I'm your Aunt Kitty and I'm going to spoil you _rotten_."

I divert my attention to Remy who is still sitting on my bed next to me, one arm lying around my shoulders. "It's up to Remy," I say tiredly, "you pick a name."

"Well I want whatever you want, ma chérie," He says in reply and leans down to kiss my temple.

"Hey!" Kitty looks up at us. "Why don't you name her that?"

"Name her what?" I ask in confusion.

"Chérie," Kitty says brightly, "Remy always calls you that."

Huh. How very…right that seems. I look over at Remy who is grinning. Well…

"Cept' you'd have to spell it Sherry with an S," Kitty says in afterthought, "because otherwise people would think her name was Cherry."

This is true. And hey! I just realized something! For months I've been craving blueberries and that's why we thought it was boy. That's right, berry and Sherry rhyme. Maybe everytime I said 'I want a blueberry' the baby thought I said Sherry and knew it was her name and so she liked the blueberries? Oh yeah, I'm sure that must be it.

My kid is smart.

Aw, my little Sherry Blueberry. Sherry Berry. Blue Sherry Berry. Berry Sherry Blue.

The nicknames are too easy.

"I like it." Remy says.

"Me too," I grin.

"And her middle name should be Anna," Remy continues. "Did you see that glare we got we she came out? She looked exactly like you."

Oh, so that was why he said, '_I've seen that face before_'. If she does look that much like me when she's angry, then he's right. He has seen that face before. He see's it quite often.

"So…" Kitty looks down at the little one in her arms. "You're Sherry Anna Lebeau…It fits. You _feel_ like a Sherry."

"Lemme' see," I hold my arms out and Kitty passes her over to me instantly and carefully. Hm. Yep, she really does _feel_ like a Sherry. Or a 'chérie', as Remy would put it.

Remy leans a little closer to us, squeezing his arm tighter around me as he says, "Sherry Anna and my Rogue…I'll love you both forever."

The tears don't seem to want to stop. They keep falling silently as I lean into my husband and look down at our daughter. My heart almost hurts I love her so much. I got the most awesome present today. Her name is Sherry and she's all mine and she's the best thing ever.

After Kurt takes her from me again and starts talking gently to her, I look around at my family one more time before I drift off in sleep…And somehow I know that everything's gonna be all right.


	8. The Chapter With The Storm

**A/N: Yep, here we are at the end…I'm hungry so I'm going to make this quick. Thank you! And I'll be back this summer with a VERY long Romy fic so don't forget me!**

**This chapter (or epilogue) is for all of the reviewers (not just from this story but if you've ever reviewed anything of mine) because since you review I think you are all the bees knees and all that in bag of potaTO chips! Um…If that didn't make any sense to you, it just means I think you're cool. **

**Thanks for reading!**

**Oh, and I don't own Barney.**

…

_One year later._

This child is insane.

No matter how many times I say no, no matter how many times I take away the sugar, now matter how many different ways I try to gently explain to her that she is going to kill mommy…she just won't CALM DOWN. The kid acts like she's on crack all the time. She NEVER stops running. I mean, she just started walking, and still falls down quite a lot, but she NEVER stops moving.

She's either crawling, or clapping, or screaming, or throwing a tantrum, or riding on Remy's shoulders or pooping. It doesn't matter what she's doing, but she is always going a million miles a minute. I have a strong suspicion that this must be what Remy was like when he was child. Because I certainly know that _I_ was never this hyperactive.

She loves to scream. She loves to poop. I don't know if she likes it, but she spits up a lot. She drools so much sometimes it's like someone's turned a faucet on in her mouth. She goes through three to six outfits a day. And worst of all…she loves Barney.

I myself would like to stab Barney.

But I don't want it to seem like I'm complaining. Let's move on from my child's hyperactive tendencies.

I was right. She's a daddy's girl. I have to wonder if it's because she genuinely likes Remy more or if it's because Remy gives her whatever she wants and has a hard time telling her no. It's always Dada this and Dada that. Daddy comes home and she completely forgets about mommy.

Hmph.

But I think this is because Remy always brings her a treat. It's always little random things like a pinwheel or a flashlight or a sucker. Then daddy flies her through the air and she's super baby for a while, then she gets on his knee and she's a cowgirl, then she's ready to eat dinner and daddy's got airplanes flying toward her mouth.

Um…that sounds weird. But it's all true, I swear. Obviously, I've picked up the habit of calling Remy 'Daddy' and he's started calling me 'Mommy'.

But it's not like she doesn't like me at all. Of course she loves her _mommy_! While Remy's at work she's mommy's girl. We watch Barney and color pictures and she gets to take a bath and I make the rubber ducky's talk to her.

I get sticky kisses and 'pet rocks' and pictures drawn for me which are actually just scribbles on a paper with blue crayon. It's always blue because that's her favorite color. But I'll be honest about something…they're the best scribbles I've ever seen. Everytime I get one I oo and aw over it likes it's the best thing ever.

Because it almost is.

Everyone loves her…but that's because she's awesome. When she sees Jean she says 'OO!' When she sees Kitty she says 'EE!' When she sees Logan she claps her hands and then pulls his hair. Everytime she hears John talking she thinks it's the funniest thing ever. She sits on Professor X's lap and goes for rides in his chair. She likes Kurt the most when he's blue and furry (I have to wonder if that's why she likes blue so much) and I think she likes him best out of everyone else.

Any speaking of everyone else…Kitty and Piotr are engaged. Kitty uses every opportunity she can get to show off the big engagement ring to everyone she meets and I've never seen her happier. Jean and Scott are trying to get pregnant and Kurt (who has been completely cured of his rabies) has an on/off relationship with the deathly shy nurse Ava. Professor X watches the Maury show every now and then and everyone else is still fairly normal and very happy.

And it turns out that Remy was right. We're not so bad at this. I mean, we _did_ freak out the first time she had an explosive poop. It was a week after she had come home from the hospital and I was changing her diaper. At that point it was just a number one but then…I thought it was fart. But suddenly…the apocalypse came. And when I say it _came_, I mean it came out of my daughter's butt and flew all over everything.

It was on me, on the bed, on her, and on the floor. Remy had been sitting nearby and saw the whole thing. We were scared at first because we didn't know that it was completely normal for babies to do this. But after we learned that it was ok, the second time it was funny and we laughed about it. The third time was even funnier because she pooped on Remy that time.

Sorry if this grosses you out. Poop and throw up and drool just don't make me queasy at all anymore. That happens when you see floods of it everyday.

Yeah…I have _no idea_ what I used to talk about. Evidently I used to talk about _something_ but I can't recall what any of it was. I think it was something like-'Remy, Remy, Remy, Oh my God I'm pregnant, Remy, Remy, I'm so pissed off right now, Remy, Remy, I want to smack Remy, Remy, Remy, I love Remy...Yeah, something like that.

But anyway…I've never had so much fun doing so much work in my life. She's not a very easy child. She's extremely high maintenance and thinks she must be held and entertained at every second. I've forgotten what it's like to sleep through the whole night. Sometimes I forget that the whole world is not just made up of crying children and big, purple dinosaurs. Going to a movie is completely out of the question—not without standing up with the baby and walking around the theater while doing it.

I could always pawn her off on the others—they don't mind this and Sherry doesn't either—but...when I leave her for too long…I miss her. I don't want to be away from her for very long! My heart hurts when she's gone. And no matter how much all of the others claim they don't mind, I know they get tired very quickly because she's so much work and demands so much attention.

But sometimes I DO need a break and I'll go off with Kitty or Kurt and leave her with Remy. And then I feel bad for wanting to be away from her.

My home will never be clean again, I'll never get enough sleep again, there will ALWAYS be little handprints on the windows to the car no matter how many times I clean it, diapers will always have to be changed, and bumps on the head will always need to have magic mommy and daddy kisses, but every second is worth it. I wouldn't change one bit of it because I love my life now more than I ever have before. Things feel _right_ as if this is the way it was always supposed to be.

Remy loves his little girl (he calls her his little chérie blueberry) with all his heart but there's been a few things that haven't changed.

When he comes home, I always get the first kiss. When it's time for sleep, I'm the one who is safely wrapped up in his arms. Sherry's not the only one who gets a treat when he comes home; I still get a flower everyday. He tells me that I'm still his 'number one girl' and then when I tell him I'm his _wife_ not his 'girl' he tickles me until I cry.

I was really self conscious about my body after having Sherry, but Remy made me feel like I was the most beautiful thing in the world and never stopped telling me so. I'm still not entirely confident about my image (I won't ever get my hips back) but Remy adamantly says that he likes me better this way. Whatever that means.

We rarely go out nowadays so instead we opt for waiting until we put Sherry to bed and then eating TV dinners in the candlelight. That's nice too. I don't mind it because I never went out for the food or the atmosphere—I went out to be with Remy.

This is exactly what we're doing tonight. We're sharing a frozen pizza in the candlelight and sitting at our little, round kitchen table. Sherry is in bed, it's all quiet except for the gentle sound of the rain outside. I know Remy has got to be tired from work but he's not showing it. Because tomorrow he's off. He doesn't have to wake up early. The baby is asleep, the house is semi-clean and Remy has that look in his eye…A look I know I'm sharing with him.

You know what I mean.

Bow chica _wow-wow_.

"So…" I casually wipe my mouth after I've finished eating and then get up to take both of our plates to the sink. "What to do now?" I ask as though I have no idea. "Hm, what to _do_? Oh, I know! We could play a board game!" I don't turn around to see his expression but I know he's probably rolling his eyes at me. I turn on the water and start washing the dishes. "Or, if you would rather, we could always go count the bumps on the ceiling. Or, actually, there's a lot of laundry that needs to be folded."

I'm lying. There isn't a stitch of laundry that needs to be folded because I folded it all while he was at work.

"Oh, I'm sure we can think of _something_," Remy says from the table.

I feel a tingle shoot up my spine. He's using _that_ voice. It's that voice that he uses when we…uh, let's get back to the story.

"Really?" I ask, trying to sound innocently curious but my voice sounds a little too eager. I finish washing one dish and set it on the dish rack to dry as I continue. "I can't think of anything."

"I have something in mind," Remy says in that voice. "I think you'll like it."

Yeah, I bet I will too.

"Okee dokee," I say brightly, "as soon as I'm done doing dishes, you can show me exactly what you have in mind."

I don't even hear him move, but suddenly he's at my back and his arms around snaking around my waist, bringing me closer. I let out a little gasp of surprise and nearly drop the soapy plate in my hand.

"Rogue," Remy says into my ear, "you should hurry with that because I'm extremely eager to get show you _exactly_ what I'm thinking about."

I've never washed a dish so quickly before.

No sooner had I turned off the water when Remy scooped me up and was rushing us towards the bedroom.

"Oh, wait, wait!" I say quickly and he stops and looks down at me in confusion. "We forgot to blow out the candles!"

Remy put me down and told me stay there.

I don't think I've ever seen him blow out candles so fast before.

And then he was back and I was in his arms again. We made it into our bedroom and he unceremoniously dropped me onto the bed, earning himself a glare.

"Finally," he sounds very relieved as he starts to work on my neck. "I never thought we would be able to do this again."

I didn't either. Since Sherry came nights like these are few and far between. It's very dark in the room, I can barely see Remy. The rain outside is getting harder and is accompanied by big, booming rolls of thunder that I barely hear.

But what I _do_ hear is someone crying at our bedroom door.

There's a long, drawn out, Moooommeeeee and then a little yelp and some more crying.

With a sad little groan, Remy rolls off of me and goes to open the door. There's my little Sherry, brown curly hair and green eyes and pink princess footy pajamas, crying her little eyes out. I certainly don't forget Remy, but when I see her my heart breaks just a little and suddenly she's the bigger priority.

She instantly clings to Remy's legs, wrapping her little arms around one his calves and crying something that sounds like a bunch of gibberish. But I instantly know what's wrong—she's scared of the thunder. She's afraid of the loud noises and she wants her mommy and daddy.

And _of course_ that's what she's gonna get.

"Come here, sweetheart," I tell her softly and sit on the edge of the bed and hold my arms out to her.

She runs over and I scoop her into my lap and gently rock her. Her little hands cling to my neck tightly and she whimpers and cries everytime there's another boom of thunder.

"Do you want to sleep with us?" Remy asks as he comes over to sit next to us. He still looks a little frustrated but now resigned to the fact that's it just not going to happen tonight.

She immediately nods her head and then hiccoughs. Five minutes later, we're all in our pajamas and snuggled together in bed. Sherry insists on getting between us and I allow it. She doesn't like the thunder and she hates the dark, but as long as we're both here with her she's not afraid. And I won't ever let her be frightened of something when I'm there and can help it.

Watching her sleep has become one of my favorite past times. I've memorized her round face and rosy, chubby cheeks and long lashes so I'll never forget it. Somehow I know I'll never get tired of this. I finally stop and glance up to find that Remy is looking at me.

"What?" I ask.

"Nothing," he shrugs and then pulls the pillow closer and closes his eyes. "Goodnight, I love you."

"I love you too," I whisper and settle in closer to my daughter.

So there you have it. Remy loves me and I love Remy and Remy loves Sherry and I love Sherry and Sherry loves me and Remy and—well, you get it. I'd like to say something corny like—and we lived happily ever after—but somehow I know that this isn't the end. We're just starting and we've got so much more ahead of us. I'm excited to see what's next but right now I'm just content to live today with my family.

I could always say 'the end' but that wouldn't be right because the end is never _truly_ the end.


End file.
